Amid infighting, Michigan Republicans set to deliver Trump another win
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[March 02, 2024]
By Nathan Layne
(Reuters) - Republicans will meet in Michigan on Saturday amid simmering
internal turmoil to choose their presidential nominee, with Donald Trump
expected to sweep the delegates at stake in the battleground state as he
draws closer to the nomination.
Nearly 2,000 party insiders are registered to participate in a
presidential caucus in the western Michigan city of Grand Rapids, where
they will choose delegates for former President Trump or his lone
remaining rival, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, for the party's
national nominating convention in July.
Republicans will also hold caucuses in Missouri and Idaho on Saturday,
among the final contests for Haley to alter the course of the race prior
to Super Tuesday on March 5, the biggest day in the primaries, when 15
states and one territory will vote.
With victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, U.S. Virgin Islands and
South Carolina under his belt, Trump is far and away the frontrunner in
the race, with Haley hanging on thanks to support from donors keen for
an alternative to the former president.
This election cycle Michigan Republicans devised a hybrid nominating
system, split between a primary and a caucus.
Trump won the primary convincingly on Tuesday, securing 12 of 16
delegates up for grabs. He could take all of Michigan's remaining 39
delegates at stake on Saturday, given that will be up to the roughly
2,000 precinct delegates who form the activist base of the party that
leans heavily towards Trump.
"The expectation is that Trump sweeps the delegates from the
convention," said Matt Grossman, a political scientist at Michigan State
University. "The activists in the party have been for Trump, but the
voters have been for Trump as well."
The Michigan contest on Saturday holds the potential for confusion and
could spawn protests. Internal turmoil has been percolating in the party
for months, pitting backers of Kristina Karamo against the faction of
party members who voted to oust her as chair on Jan. 6, and installed
Pete Hoekstra as chair.
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Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald
Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 24,
2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
Hoekstra, who Trump backed as chair, will oversee the convention in
Grand Rapids. Karamo had been planning to chair a dueling convention
in Detroit on Saturday, but that was canceled after a Michigan court
this week affirmed her ouster and an appeals court denied her
request to stay the ruling.
At the convention, precinct delegates will be split into 13
different caucuses, one for each of the state's congressional
districts. If a candidate wins a majority of votes in a caucus they
take all three of its delegates, for a maximum total of 39.
How smoothly it will play out remains unclear. Pro-Karamo party
chairs for at least two districts have called for caucus meetings
separately from Grand Rapids. However, the results from those are
unlikely to be accepted by the Republican National Committee, which
last month formally recognized Hoekstra as state party chair.
Hoekstra, ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's presidency,
said he was expecting 50% to 60% of the 1,900 credentialed precinct
delegates to show up in Grand Rapids, and that his team was
preparing for possible disruptions.
"We are going to try to do everything we can to run a very orderly
process," Hoekstra told Reuters.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne, editing by Ross Colvin and Deepa
Babington)
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