Michigan Republican Party
Michigan Republican Party | |
---|---|
Chairperson | Ronald Weiser |
Senate Leader | Mike Shirkey |
House Speaker | Jason Wentworth |
Founded | July 6, 1854Jackson, Michigan | , in
Headquarters | Secchia-Weiser Republican Center, 520 N. Seymour St., Lansing, Michigan |
Student wing | Michigan Federation of College Republicans |
Youth wing | Michigan Young Republicans Michigan Teen Age Republicans |
Women's wing | Republican Women's Federation of Michigan |
Ideology | Majority: • Conservatism[1] Factions: • Paleoconservatism[2] • Right-wing populism[3][4] |
Political position | Center-right to right-wing |
National affiliation | Republican Party |
Colors | Red |
Michigan House of Representatives | 56 / 110 |
Michigan Senate | 22 / 38 |
Statewide Executive Offices | 0 / 4 |
U.S. House of Representatives | 7 / 14 |
U.S. Senate | 0 / 2 |
Website | |
Official website | |
The Michigan Republican Party is the state affiliate of the national Republican Party in Michigan, sometimes referred to as MIGOP. Ronald Weiser was elected chairman in 2021.
Ronna Romney McDaniel was the chairwoman of the party, having been elected in 2015 by delegates to the Republican State Convention. McDaniel is now the Republican National Committee Chairwoman.[5] The Michigan Republican Party hosts a biennial political conference at the Mackinac Island Grand Hotel called the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference. The event features notable national Republicans, senators, governors, and presidential candidates.[6]
Whereas the Michigan Republican Party has historically been characterized by moderate conservatism, the party took a hard-right turn after Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016.[7] After the 2020 United States elections, the Michigan Republican Party pushed false claims of fraud and sought to overturn the election results.[8][9][10] A months-long Republican investigation found there was no evidence of widespread fraud and recommended for the attorney general to investigate some who had made such allegations for personal gain.[11]
Starting in 2023 and as a result of the 2022 elections, the party will lack substantial political power in the state. It will have minorities in both chambers of the state legislature and its U.S. House delegation, as well as neither of the state's U.S. Senate seats, and no statewide executive offices.
History
Republicans have been elected to the governorship of Michigan in 27 of 48 gubernatorial elections. The first was Kingsley S. Bingham in 1855, and the most recent is Rick Snyder, who was elected in 2010, and then re-elected in 2014.[citation needed]
After President Richard Nixon resigned due to the Watergate scandal, Vice-President Gerald Ford became the 38th President of the United States. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and served as a U.S. Representative from Michigan from 1949 to 1973.[citation needed]
Following the 2016 election and Reince Priebus' selection to be White House Chief of Staff, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel became Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Then President-elect Trump recommended McDaniel in December 2016 to replace Priebus.[12] She was officially elected as RNC chair on January 19, 2017, becoming the second woman to hold the post in RNC history, after Mary Louise Smith.[5]
After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election in Michigan and Donald Trump refused to concede, the Michigan Republican Party pushed false claims of fraud and sought to overturn the election results.[8][9][10] In January 2021, the Michigan Republican Party sought to replace GOP member Aaron Van Langevelde on the Michigan Board of Canvassers; he had previously voted to certify the Michigan election results in favor of Biden.[13] One of the candidates that the Michigan Republican Party sought to nominate to that position was Linda Lee Tarver, who had been involved in efforts to overturn the election results.[13]
According to the Associated Press, since Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election and Michigan swinging back to the Democrats, the Michigan GOP have taken a hard right-wing turn. The shift has altered the once moderate character of the state GOP and has instead embraced more right-wing elements.[14] In 2021, the executive director of the Michigan GOP resigned after he declined to say that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump; delegates in the Michigan GOP had called for him to be fired for his remarks.[15]
Current elected Republicans in Michigan
Members of Congress
U.S. Senate
- None
Both of Michigan's U.S. Senate seats have been held by Democrats since 2000. Spencer Abraham was the last Republican to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate. First elected in 1994, Abraham lost his bid for a second term in 2000 to Democrat Debbie Stabenow who has held the seat since.
U.S. House of Representatives
Out of the 14 seats Michigan is apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives, 7 are held by Republicans:
District | Member | Photo |
---|---|---|
1st | Jack Bergman | |
2nd | Bill Huizenga | |
3rd | Peter Meijer | |
4th | John Moolenaar | |
6th | Fred Upton | |
7th | Tim Walberg | |
10th | Lisa McClain |
Statewide
- None
Michigan has not elected any GOP candidates to statewide office since 2014, when Rick Snyder, Brian Calley, Bill Schuette, and Ruth Johnson were re-elected as governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, respectively. In 2018, term limits prevented all four politicians from seeking third terms. Schuette ran as the Republican nominee in the 2018 gubernatorial election with Lisa Posthumus Lyons as his running mate and was subsequently defeated by Democratic challenger Gretchen Whitmer and running mate Garlin Gilchrist while Tom Leonard and Mary Treder Lang ran as the Republican nominees for Attorney General and Secretary of State and were subsequently defeated by Democratic challengers Dana Nessel and Jocelyn Benson.
Michigan Legislature
- Senate Majority Leader: Mike Shirkey
- Senate President Pro Tempore: Aric Nesbitt
- Speaker of the House: Jason Wentworth
- Speaker Pro Tempore: Pamela Hornberger
- House Majority Leader: Ben Frederick
United States cabinet members from Michigan who served under a Republican president
The following are in order of presidential succession.
Name | Cabinet position | Years served | President(s) served under |
---|---|---|---|
Charles Erwin Wilson | Secretary of Defense | 1953–1957 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Zachariah Chandler | Secretary of the Interior | 1875–1877 | Ulysses S. Grant |
Roy D. Chapin | Secretary of Commerce | 1932–1933 | Herbert Hoover |
Frederick H. Mueller | Secretary of Commerce | 1959–1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
George W. Romney | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | 1969–1973 | Richard Nixon |
David Stockman | Director of Office of Management and Budget | 1981–1985 | Ronald Reagan |
Spencer Abraham | Secretary of Energy | 2001–2005 | George W. Bush |
Betsy DeVos | Secretary of Education | 2017–2021 | Donald Trump |
Russell A. Alger | Secretary of War (obsolete) | 1897–1899 | William McKinley |
Truman Handy Newberry | Secretary of the Navy (obsolete) | 1908–1909 | Theodore Roosevelt |
Edwin Denby | Secretary of the Navy (obsolete) | 1921–1924 | Warren G. Harding |
Calvin Coolidge | |||
Arthur Summerfield | Postmaster General (obsolete) | 1953–1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Michigan Republican State Committee
The Michigan Republican State Committee is the state central committee of the Michigan Republican Party. It is composed of seven members from each of Michigan's Congressional district Republican committees, the Chairman, Co-Chairman, the various Vice Chairmen of the Party, and the Secretary, Treasurer and General and Financial Counsels. It selects Michigan's two representatives to the Republican National Committee. Additionally, the Chairperson of each County Republican Party organization is a non-voting ex officio member of the State Committee.
Current leadership
Ronald Weiser - Chairman
Meshawn Maddock - Co-Chair
- National Committeewoman
- National Committeeman
Paul Stephens - Youth Vice Chairman
Diane Schindlbeck - Administrative Vice Chairman
Tami Carlone - Coalitions Vice Chairman
Bernadette Smith - Ethnic Vice Chairman
Marian Sheridan - Grassroots Vice Chairwoman
Tyrell Bundy - Outreach Vice Chairman
First district | Second district | Third district | Fourth district | Fifth district |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jeff Lamb | Kurt Van Koevering | Kim Yob | Joan Jackson | Lutullus Penton |
Linda Birgel | Jack Holmes | Mandy Bolter | Florence "Bobbie" Connolly | Prudy Adam |
Beverly Bodem | Paul Leidig | Andrew Emmitt | Kim Emmons | Amy Carl |
John Haggard | Janice McCraner | Richard Houskamp | Maxine McClelland | David Krueger |
John Niemela | Juanita Pierman | Eileen McNeil | Steve Rudoni | Jeremy Clontz |
Mary Sears | Joan Runnels | William Womer | Eric St. Onge | Christine Young |
Anthony Stackpoole | Bob Springstead | Sharon Yentsch | Gerald Wall | Allen Pool |
Chairmen of the Michigan Republican State Committee
References
- ^ Paul Gottfried, Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right, p. 9, "Postwar conservatives set about creating their own synthesis of free-market capitalism, Christian morality, and the global struggle against Communism." (2009); Gottfried, Theologies and moral concern (1995) p. 12.
- ^ Schneider, Gregory (2003). Conservatism in America Since 1930: A Reader. NYU Press. p. 387.
- ^ Cassidy, John (February 29, 2016). "Donald Trump is Transforming the G.O.P. Into a Populist, Nativist Party". The New Yorker.
- ^ Gould, J. J. (July 2, 2016). "Why Is Populism Winning on the American Right?". The Atlantic.
- ^ a b "Ronna Romney McDaniel tapped to be new RNC chair". POLITICO. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
- ^ "About | Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference". Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
- ^ "Once the mainstream model, Michigan GOP embraces right wing". AP NEWS. 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
- ^ a b "6 reasons that allegations of Michigan election fraud defy common sense". mlive. 2020-11-22. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
- ^ a b "'I am certainly not dead!' Living voters contradict Michigan GOP fraud claims". www.bridgemi.com. 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
- ^ a b Boucher, Dave. "McDaniel claims election misconduct in Michigan, elsewhere, but doesn't present proof". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
- ^ "GOP investigation finds no Michigan vote fraud, deems many claims 'ludicrous' | Bridge Michigan". Bridge Michigan.
- ^ "Trump names Michigan's Ronna Romney McDaniel RNC chair". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
- ^ a b Mauger, Craig; LeBlanc, Beth. "Michigan Republicans seek to replace GOP canvasser who certified election". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
- ^ "Once the mainstream model, Michigan GOP embraces right wing". AP NEWS. 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- ^ Hendrickson, Dave Boucher and Clara. "Michigan GOP executive who blamed Trump for election loss resigns leadership post". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
- ^ William Alanson Howard later became U. S. Representative for the Michigan's 1st congressional district (1855-59), (1860-61) and Governor of Dakota Territory (1878–1880)
- ^ John J. Bagley later served as Governor of Michigan (1873–1877)
- ^ Zachariah Chandler had previously been Mayor of Detroit (1851–1852), U. S. Senator (Class 1) from Michigan (1857–1875, 1879) U. S. Secretary of the Interior (1875–77) and simultaneously Chairman of the Republican National Committee (1876-79)
- ^ James McMillan was also a U. S. Senator (Class 2) from Michigan (1889–1902)
- ^ Henry P. Baldwin had previously served as Governor of Michigan (1869–1873) and United States Senator (Class 1) from Michigan (1879–1881)
- ^ Gerrit J. Diekema had also been U. S. Representative for the Michigan's 5th congressional district (1907–1911)
- ^ Alex J. Groesbeck was later Michigan Attorney General (1917–1920) and Governor of Michigan (1921–1927)
- ^ John R. Dethmers was later Michigan Attorney General (1945–1946)
- ^ Owen Cleary was later Michigan Secretary of State (1953–1954)
- ^ John Feikens is currently Senior Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (since 1986)
- ^ Elly M. Peterson was the first woman to serve as chairman of any official state party.
- ^ Spencer Abraham later became U. S. Senator from Michigan (1995—2001) and U. S. Secretary of Energy (2001–2005)
- ^ Betsy DeVos is married to 2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos
- ^ Gerald Hills is currently the spokesman for Michigan Attorney General candidate Bill Schuette.
- ^ a b c Ronald Weiser is a former United States Ambassador to Slovakia, appointed by George W. Bush in November 2001 and served until December 2004.