LANSING, Mich. (MIRS News) – If Michigan moves forward with a Feb. 27 presidential primary, the Michigan Republican Party will use the election to determine 16 of its 55 (29%) national delegates, under a proposal approved by the MRP’s State Committee this afternoon by a two-thirds vote.
The plan largely mirrors the plan released Friday night, but is now contingent on the Republican National Committee (RNC) giving its assurances that Michigan’s plan will not cost it any delegates to the summer 2024 convention in Milwaukee.
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It also presumes the Democratic legislative majority either get enough Senate Republican votes or adjourns session early enough to give the law creating the early primary immediate effect.
The preference among Republicans is to have a presidential primary that adheres fully to the RNC rules, which is a selection process held on March 1 or shortly thereafter.
The plan now awards 16 delegates, as opposed to 10, based on the Feb. 27 primary results. These 16 delegates would be carved up proportionately based on the candidate’s vote total in Michigan unless the winning candidate cracks 50% plus one vote. At that point, this candidate would get all 16 delegates.
The remaining 39 delegates would be selected (three each) by each of the 13 congressional districts on a proportional basis on Saturday, March 2.
This arrangement was crafted by National Committeeman Rob Steele, MRP Chair Kristina Karamo, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and their respective legal teams. The intent was to make somewhat relevant the Feb. 27 primary created by Democrats while also adhering to the spirit of the MRP rules that only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina can hold their presidential selection processes before March 1.
If the Republicans agreed to base 100% of their delegation selection process on a Feb. 27 primary, it would lose around 80% of its delegates to Milwaukee.
“After the Democrat Legislature and Governor tried to penalize and disenfranchise Republican primary voters by reducing Michigan’s Republican National delegates from 55 to 12, the MIGOP and the RNC have worked together to give Republican primary voters their full franchise back in their choice for the Republican presidential nominee,” Steele told MIRS.
Saturday’s MRP state committee meeting in Grand Rapids was closed to the press, but sources inside the room tell MIRS that delegates were generally supportive of the final plan. Their major issue was the speed of the process and a desire to slow down a vote.
Debate on the proposal went around two hours.
In the end, the compromise received two-thirds support. Details of the original proposal can be found here.
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