GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Former President Donald Trump appeared poised to win Michigan's complicated and chaotic Republican convention caucuses in overwhelming fashion Saturday.
Mr. Trump won a supermajority in each of the state's 13 congressional districts, 100% in four and nearly every other district, according to unofficial numbers reported in real time by party officials. received over 90% of the votes.
With this victory, Mr. Trump will receive all 39 delegates awarded based on the results of the party's conventions. Trump is also expected to win most of the 16 delegates, determined by the results of Tuesday's primary election, in which he decisively defeated former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.
Party leaders are expected to officially announce the results of the primary and party convention, as well as the allocation numbers, later on Saturday.
Republican presidential caucuses will also be held in Idaho and Missouri on Saturday.
The proceedings here were tinged with confusion caused by Michigan's ugly Republican leadership dispute and other internal party turmoil. Late Friday night, just hours before potential delegates were to decide where they would attend the next morning, talk of a mini-convention between rogues and rivals arose.
Pete Hoekstra, who has been approved by the Republican National Committee as state party chairman, hosted the convention in Grand Lapus. Christina Karamo, the ousted and defiant former state party chair, was scheduled to hold her own convention in Detroit, but received a court order barring her from conducting party business, forcing her to close at the last minute. canceled her plans. Meanwhile, party activists in several Congressional districts have announced plans to hold their own rallies elsewhere this weekend.
“Delegates have been receiving contradictory and confusing emails in recent weeks pushing different agendas, different staff, and different conventions,” said Jason Cabell Roe, a veteran Republican strategist in Michigan. . “You also have to be very careful to know who is sending what and what are legitimate instructions and events.”
Hoekstra, who served as Trump's ambassador to the Netherlands, has endorsed the former president's 2024 campaign, calling her a “presumptive” candidate, even as Haley continues to campaign. There is. On Saturday, Haley received zero votes in several precincts.
“Part of being a delegate is to represent as many voices as possible. And the reason we were able to vote for candidates who are probably not that popular is that there are a lot of people in this room voting. “I think it was because he knew 'President Trump,'” said Carter Houtman, the only vote for Haley in the 2nd District caucus.
Karamo was a prominent denier of Michigan's 2020 election and lost the 2022 race for secretary of state, but was elected state party president last year. But her activists quickly became dissatisfied with her financial decisions and the way she conducted her fundraising efforts. Her faction of party insiders voted to expel her in January, a vote the RNC and Kent County Circuit Court judge said was appropriate.
Mr. Hoekstra had long maintained that his convention would be a significant one given the RNC's support and the judge's order. And his tournaments drew huge crowds, filling the hallways of the downtown hotel where the tournament was held wall-to-wall before the 10 a.m. start time.
But there was frustration among some local activists, including those who missed the deadline to apply for status while waiting for the courts to resolve the leadership dispute between Hoekstra and Karamo. was.
Northern Michigan's 1st Congressional District Republican Party announced in a statement Friday that most delegates were denied eligibility to the Grand Rapids convention because they missed the registration deadline while waiting for the courts to resolve the leadership dispute. . The group plans to hold its own tournament at Houghton Lake. The Republican chairman of the 4th Congressional District cited similar certification issues and told the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press that he would call a meeting Saturday in Battle Creek.
“The newly proclaimed administration… appears to be ignoring the rules by inviting dissent with the consent of allies in the Republican National Committee,” said Republican District 1 Chairwoman Dia Rendon. . “We have no intention of falling into their confusing messages and backtracking and playing such games. It is unacceptable to deny people the right to
Hoekstra said on friday He said he was looking for “ways to allow delegates to participate on Saturday even if the rules for qualification are not followed.”
On Saturday, some attendees said the process remained chaotic, especially as activists in some districts were trying to hold satellite conventions and other representatives from those districts had gone to the Grand Rapids caucus. He complained that it was too much. Some were upset that their credentials were denied because they had traveled long distances and missed Hoekstra's deadline.
Dan Hartman, who served as general counsel for the Michigan Republican Party under Karamo and attended Saturday's convention, predicted that objections to the state's delegate list would reach the floor of this summer's Republican National Convention.
“It's not over yet,” Hartman told NBC News.
But Karamo supporter and District 11 representative Matt Marco emphasized the need to move forward.
Marco said: “I wanted to give Cristina the opportunity to do a good job, and she worked hard. But unfortunately, things have happened and now we have to move on. We are looking at a tough election.'' Because it's in front of me,” he said.