(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — Though Republicans held a presidential primary election in Michigan on Tuesday, their delegates to the Republican National Convention will officially be allocated on Saturday at a state convention.
Former President Donald Trump is running against former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for the delegates, though he beat her by double digits in Tuesday’s primary.
Thirty-nine of Michigan’s 55 Republican National Convention delegates will be awarded at the state party’s congressional district caucuses on Saturday, when party members (chosen by their local parties) from across the state will caucus by groups split into 13 districts.
Three delegates per congressional district will be awarded. A candidate can take all three if they receive the majority of votes, or just two if they earn a plurality with one going to whoever is in second place.
The results of Tuesday’s GOP primary determine 16 of the party’s delegates, but those will be formally awarded based on a resolution to be determined at Saturday’s convention.
The gathering plays out against the backdrop of the state Republican Party being enmeshed in a controversial leadership squabble that came to a head this week, when a county circuit court judge affirmed the removal of Kristina Karamo as the chairperson.
Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who also served as ambassador to the Netherlands under Trump, has taken over the party and is recognized by the national party as the new state chair.
However, Karamo is still planning on hosting her own convention to allocate delegates on Saturday, in Detroit, but Hoekstra’s separate convention in Grand Rapids is the one that will count in the eyes of the Republican National Committee, which has encouraged representatives to attend in Grand Rapids.
The party, while Karamo was lawfully chair, said it pursued this split delegate allocation process because the Democratic-led state Legislature, at the recommendation of President Joe Biden, passed a bill that moved the state’s primary up in the calendar.
The new Feb. 27 primary date conflicted with party rules that bar state parties from holding a nominating contest prior to March 1, except for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, so Michigan was at risk of losing most of their delegates.
As a solution, and with the blessing of the national party, state Republicans devised a duel primary-convention plan system, which some have said could benefit Trump by limiting selection of the majority delegates to an especially involved group of caucus-goers who are expected to be friendly to the former president
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