RNC says it appears Karamo was 'properly removed' as state Republican chair

The Republican National Committee sent a letter Wednesday saying when it meets next week in Las Vegas it won't allow Kristina Karamo or former Ambassador and U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra to serve as a voting member, though it says it "appears" Karamo was "properly removed" from the post of Michigan's Republican Party chairman early this month under the state party's bylaws.

"That said ... the determination is not dispositive and (the RNC's counsel's office) recognizes that additional information could conceivably come to light which changes its view," the letter said. Neither Karamo nor Hoekstra, who a group of state committee members elected as chair last weekend, will be credentialed as RNC members at next week's winter meetings, even though the state party chair is usually treated as an RNC member.

"Following the (meeting), a body of RNC members will move quickly to review the dispute and make such recommendation as they believe appropriate," concluded the letter from Michael Whatley, the RNC's general counsel and chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, and Matthew Raymer, the RNC's chief counsel.

The letter was addressed to both Karamo — an election denier and ally of former President Donald Trump who ran unsuccessfully for Michigan secretary of state in 2022 before being elected state party chair in February 2023 — and Hoekstra, also a Trump ally who served as his ambassador to the Netherlands.

Jim Copas, an ally of Karamo's who has been serving as the state party's executive director and who was also voted to be removed, told the Free Press late Wednesday that neither Karamo nor the Michigan GOP officials working with her received the letter from the RNC and that they only got it from an outside group, which he didn't name.

"It does appear the letter is authentic," Copas said. But he said it reflects only the views of those who wrote it and carries no official weight as to denying Karamo's status as chair of the state party. "The letter has zero — zero —legal significance." He added that a process is underway to settle that question — adding that it does not focus on a court case already underway — but declined to provide details.

A group of members of the Republican State Committee voted on Jan. 6 to remove Karamo as chairman, amid worries that the party's finances are in disarray and concerns that it is not prepared for this year's elections; Karamo insisted the meeting was in violation of the state party bylaws and that she remain chair. Hoekstra was elected party chair by another state committee meeting in Lansing last weekend that Karamo has also insisted was unlawful.

Karamo said even before the Jan. 6 meeting was held that it was called in violation of the state GOP rules. Copas said Wednesday it also violated rules for appointing proxy votes for members not in attendance, saying it was "completely contrary to the spirit of the bylaws."

Copas called the move a "deep state attempt" to remove the first Black grassroots Republican state chairwoman in the nation.

This week, Dr. Rob Steele, one of Michigan's members of the Republican National Committee, told the Free Press that while the RNC has the authority to seat or deny a seat to its own membership, it doesn't typically meddle in determining who sits in local and state party leadership.

The letter noted as much, saying the RNC has "limited power ... to issue binding determinations in internal state party disputes." But it said it "unquestionably has the authority ... to determine who its voting members are."

Steele said he wasn't surprised that the letter charted much of that same ground he had spoken about with the Free Press.

"With the RNC chair (former Michigan GOP Chairman Ronna McDaniel), co-chair and general counsel all past or current state chairs, it is no surprise the RNC is not interested in the creation of a new power asserting RNC legal control over the internal affairs of the state party," he said. "Their plan appears limited to addressing voting membership only."

That voting membership and the chairmanship, however, could be key if questions arise as to seating delegates at this year's convention in Milwaukee and channeling contributions from national Republican groups to federal races in Michigan.

Hoekstra, who was attending Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's State of the State address, told the Free Press he considered the letter "very encouraging."

"It validates everything we've said," he said. "What happened on Jan. 6 (the vote to remove Karamo) was appropriate and valid and obviously what happened on Saturday, Jan. 20 (when he was elected) was valid. … It tells us where they (the RNC lawyers) stand right now. They’re going to have to get some compelling information from somewhere else to change that position. But they’ve reviewed it and the bylaws are pretty clear on all this."

The question of who is the state party's actual chair is currently playing out in a Kent County court case as well, but it comes during a key election year when Trump — who won Michigan in 2016 but lost to President Joe Biden in 2020 — is back on the ballot and Republicans are looking at a list of potentially winnable races for an open U.S. Senate seat and a couple of congressional slots, while trying to protect others.

Michigan is already headed toward a Feb. 27 presidential primary, with Republicans set to select 16 at-large delegates to the nominating convention and 39 more at district conventions, determined through voting of party members selected by congressional district, to be held March 2.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: RNC says it appears Karamo 'properly removed' as state GOP chair