Kristina Karamo, former Republican secretary of state candidate, running for state party chair
Wayne County judge blasts Kristina Karamo's election lawsuit trying to block absentee ballotts
Kristina Karamo is running for secretary of state and filed a lawsuit to try to stop Detroit's absentee ballots from being counted. On Monday, the day before the election, her lawsuit was rejected by a Wayne County judge and called a 'false flag of election law violations and corruption'.
(FOX 2) - Another former candidate for statewide office in Michigan has thrown their hat into the ring in pursuit of the state Republican Party chair.
Kristina Karamo, who earned the Republican Party's nomination for secretary of state, announced late Tuesday she was running for the leadership position due to "massive deficiencies" within the party's infrastructure.
Karamo is the lone statewide candidate to not concede her 2022 campaign for office after losing to Democratic incumbent Jocelyn Benson in November. She blamed the party's losses at the local and state level on the party's "ineffectiveness."
"Therefore, I am running to be the next chair of the Michigan Republican Party. I am both humbled and honored that Malinda Pego will join me running as co-chair," she wrote in a release.
Pego served as commissioner for Muskegon County who had previously stirred up controversy when she failed to pass a proposal that honored a slave owner for Black History Month.
Karamo promised to make the Republican Party "a powerful force for freedom" that "will reinvigorate disillusioned activist and donors who have walked away from the party."
The tone of Karamo's statement is similar to others made by other former statewide candidates like Tudor Dixon and Matt DePerno, the latter of which has also announced a run for state party chair. Since the midterms, which saw three Democratic incumbents win and both chambers flip away from Republican majorities, the GOP has mulled which direction it should move going forward.
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While political scientists have argued the party needs to moderate its message and nominate more centrist candidates, its figures like DePerno and Karamo that are pushing to lead the party next.
The conference to elect the Michigan Republican Party's next chair is scheduled for February.