Republican power struggles erupt at county meetings to pick Michigan delegates

"Shitshow," "pandemonium" and "a complete embarrassment" are among descriptions of Michigan Republican Party delegate-selection meetings in counties statewide Monday night.

(Photo: Michigan Republican Party)

The Detroit News describes the drama:

Verbal clashes and a struggle for power dominated the Republican convention Monday night in Macomb County, one of Michigan's largest, opening a period of 13 days that could redefine the state party's future. ... Someone repeatedly blew an air horn to disrupt the meeting at Shelby Gardens, which had a bar operating. ...

Across Michigan, GOP members gathered Monday for county meetings to choose delegates to send to the state convention in Grand Rapids on April 23, where nominees for attorney general, secretary of state and other offices will be officially endorsed. The battles ... [are] revealing both the energy that could spur Republicans forward ahead of the 2022 election and the division that could sink them.

Macomb's party chair, Mark Forton, was unseated at that county's meeting of nearly 700 people in Shelby Township. The News describes him as "an ardent supporter of [Donald] Trump and a leader who has openly criticized other members of the party for not doing enough to push an audit of the 2020 election."

Some Republicans got in others' faces as the debate over who should lead the meeting ensued.

Eric Castiglia of Sterling Heights was chosen to replace Forton as the county county party's chairman. ...

"Unfortunately, this is a complete embarrassment. The current leadership of our party is making a complete embarrassment of our party," said Joseph Aragona, a Republican from Clinton Township who is running for the state House, referring to Forton. "We should be taking all of this energy and focusing it into November."

"This party is a mess," Macomb Prosecutor Peter Lucido muttered at the session, tweets Laina Stebbins of Michigan Advance. She also "overheard someone describe today as a 'shitshow.'" From her coverage Tuesday:

The crowded convention room almost immediately turned to pandemonium after the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Delegates, guests and organizers hurled insults back and forth for the next three hours. Interjections of "shut up" and "sit down," and accusations of being a "commie" or "RINO" were frequent.

Meetings in Wayne and Oakland counties are described as less feisty.

Instagram post Monday by Matt DePerno, endorsed by Donald Trump for attorney general

The fiercest state-level rivalry to get on fall ballots involves three candidates -- Matt DePerno, Tom Leonard and Ryan Berman -- vying to run against Attorney General Dana Nessel.

DePerno, a Kalamazoo attorney, tweeted: "Team DePerno Patriots have heeded the call to #StormTheConvention tonight!"

Another three-way race is for nomination to oppose Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Republican contenders are Kristina Karamo, an Oak Park community college educator, Rep. Beau LaFave of Iron Mountain and Chesterfield Township Clerk Cindy Barry.

The News has context:

At the county gatherings, GOP precinct delegates are choosing about 2,500 Republicans and about 2,500 alternates who get to participate in the state convention.

The candidates won't be formally endorsed by the party until August, but gaining the endorsement of the April 23 convention is meant to clear their paths. Candidates want to have more of their supporters selected to go to the state convention to boost their chances of winning the nomination and hope to cut into their opponents' delegate wins.

At the Kent County meeting in Grand Rapids on Monday night, Rep. Peter Meijer reportedly was booed, according to Beth LeBlanc of The Detroit News. The first-term congressman was among 10 Republicans who voted for Donald Trump's impeachment in January 2021.

Lastly, we share this colorful nugget from Gongwer News Service of Lansing:

Gongwer fanned out across the state last night to attend several GOP county nominating conventions. Our assessment? That Matt DePerno may not be in for the slam dunk AG nod his team thought.

Well, we reached out to his team for a response on that and... https://t.co/eJG6y7sB4H pic.twitter.com/NBVfyIS6Ab
— Jordyn Hermani (@JordynHermani) April 12, 2022