After a bitter month-long battle in Michigan over who has a valid claim to lead the GOP in the crucial battleground state, the Republican National Committee said Wednesday it has officially recognized Pete Hoekstra as the rightful chairman of the state party.
The decision follows a Jan. 6 vote by some party officials in Michigan to oust Christina Karamo, a far-right election denier who led the party for nearly a year.
Mr. Hoekstra was elected to the position later that month and endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump. But Ms Karamo refused to accept her removal, starting a row that has roiled Republicans and spilled into court just weeks before the party held its presidential convention there.
Ms. Karamo’s critics have said the Michigan party has been shrouded in secrecy under her leadership and is struggling with funds. In choosing Mr. Hoekstra, they elevated a former longtime member of the House who was Mr. Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands.
Mr. Hoekstra said in an interview that he hoped Ms. Karamo would resign now.
“You now have the state committee,” he said, when informed of the RNC’s decision Wednesday. “You have the RNC and you have the president, which in many cases would be enough on its own. You put it all together, it’s okay, that decision was made. Let’s move on.”
Ms Karamo did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
In a teleconference Monday, the RNC heard arguments from lawyers for Mr. Hoekstra and Ms. Karamo. In an email the same day, Ms. Karamo questioned the authority of national Republicans to decide the issue.
He described the faction that voted to replace it as “an organization of crooks fraudulently claiming to be the Michigan Republican Party.” He said the state party was “ready to take appropriate measures” to protect the rights of its leaders.
Ms. Karamo has been a lightning rod for competing factions of the party in the state since Michigan Republicans tapped her to run for secretary of state in 2022 — a race she lost by 14 percentage points but has refused to concede.
He promised to heal the party and return it to electoral success after two rounds of defeats. The state has seen from Mr. Trump in the 2016 election to Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 election, and in the 2022 midterms, Democrats swept the state’s top offices and overthrew the legislature.
But by last fall, when the state party’s gathering on Mackinac Island showed its deficits — attendance plummeted, presidential candidates skipped the event, some speakers were no-shows — mutiny prevailed.
RNC lawyers wrote in late January that it appeared Ms. Karamo had been “properly removed” from the chairmanship, but stopped short of recognizing Mr. Hoekstra as chairman in what they described as an initial review.
Both Ms. Karamo and Mr. Hoekstra then appeared at a gathering in Las Vegas of Republican Party bosses from across the nation. Neither received official recognition.
Mr. Hoekstra has since moved forward with planning two fundraising dinners for the state party in late February before Michigan holds its nominating contests. Ms Karamo, for her part, has in recent days sent messages from the state party’s email account claiming it was business-as-usual for her.
Mr Trump, the overwhelming Republican presidential nominee, heads to Michigan on Saturday for a campaign rally.
