The Michigan Republican Party voted to impeach its chair. Kristina Karamo had assumed her position in February 2023 and previously announced that she would not recognize the results of the elections that finally removed her from her position. When all the votes were counted on Saturday, January 6, 88% of those present had decided to remove her.
Karamo, a 38-year-old political activist, began to gain notoriety after the 2020 presidential election, fueling the theories and allegations of fraud against Donald Trump . That led her to gain his support and to be a candidate for Secretary of State in 2022, losing by 14 percentage points to Democrat Jocelyn Benson, although she never acknowledged defeat.
Months later, she was elected as president of the Michigan GOP under rhetoric similar to that of Trump, which little by little eroded her image among party members. Indeed, her critics argued that her leadership would weaken the party ahead of the 2024 elections, specifically for the presidential and Senate elections.
BREAKING - Who Should Be Next? Kristina Karamo Ousted as Michigan Republican Chairman with Overwhelming 90% Support for Removal pic.twitter.com/Zbg0C3IIbS
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) January 6, 2024
The special meeting to remove her was called by Bree Moeggenberg, a District 2 state committee member. "Within the next 30 days, the state committee members will elect new leaders to fill these vacated positions. This process aims to select individuals who exemplify transparency, efficiency, and a strong commitment to the principles of the Republican Party," the Michigan GOP said in a statement.
Party members began seeking signatures to remove the now-former chairwoman in December, successfully obtaining the 39 signatures needed from the state committee to call the special meeting to consider the change. Karamo chose not to attend the vote and had already announced that she would not accept the results of the vote, sensing that it would not be bode well to her continuity in office.
Bethany Wheeler, a member of the state committee, told reporters that there is nothing Karamo can do to reverse the decision.
“She’s been voted out by the state committee. If this was a corporation, that’s the board. They’ve now fired the CEO, basically. She can fight it. But the fact of the matter is she was removed by the state committee and now they are in charge," she pointed out.
As for the presidential elections, Michigan is a state that provides 15 electors to the winner, which makes it a crucial one for Republican aspirations. Trump made a big splash in 2016 by winning against Hillary Clinton , becoming the first Republican to win the Wolverine State since George HW Bush in 1988, but Joe Biden regained it in 2020 by a difference of 2.78 percentage points.
Currently, Trump leads in the polls in a possible head-to-head against the current president, although his lead diminishes slightly in a standoff against Robert Kennedy Jr.
