MIDLAND, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The 8th Congressional District Republican Party’s Annual Roundup today and Saturday is being billed as a sold-out pep rally for Michigan Republicans ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Michigan’s 8th Congressional District covers Bay, Genesee, and Saginaw counties, along with parts of Midland and Tuscola counties. Advertised are big names, packed panels and confident talk about “energizing Republicans” and “preparing for victories ahead.” It even looks like gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Representative John James will appear at the event even though he was a no-show at multiple gubernatorial GOP primary debates last year.

Second in straw poll but left off the guest list.

Instead of James being the no-show this time, this event will be missing GOP gubernatorial candidate Ralph Rebandt, a former pastor in Farmington Hills and currently a community chaplain. But it’s not because he declined the invite. It’s because he wasn’t given one. Who will be there representing the GOP gubernatorial candidates? U.S. Rep. John James, state Senate minority leader Aric Nesbitt, former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, and former Michigan House Speaker Tom Leonard.

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To be fair, Rebandt isn’t the only Republican gubernatorial candidate missing from the event. Karla Wagner, Anthony Hudson, Evan Space, and Joyce Gipson also appear to be absent from the guest list, though they are far less well known.

In a video on his X account, Rebandt reminds everyone that he finished second in a straw poll immediately after the third debate in Traverse City, earning more votes than John James, Mike Cox, Tom Leonard, Karla Wagner, and Anthony Hudson, and even more votes than Cox and James combined. Those votes, as Ralph pointed out, came from “Michigan Republicans, grassroots Republicans, the very people our party should represent.”

“What are they afraid of?”

Instead of letting voters hear from him, Ralph says the 8th District committee and its chair chose to keep him off the Roundup stage entirely. “So I have to ask,” Ralph said bluntly, “what are they afraid of?” He didn’t mince words about the decision, calling it “not transparency” and “not unity,” but rather “irresponsible and pointless infighting” – the same kind, he warned, that has “led to cycle after cycle of failure” for Michigan Republicans.

Rebandt told Michigan News Source, “Congressional District 8 Committee and its Chairwoman’s actions mirror those seen in the prelude to the 2024 presidential election. The Democrats installed a nominee without accountability to their voters; we must be better than that. The facts are these: Michigan Republicans strongly endorsed both me and our grassroots mission to bring accountability and transparency back to Lansing when I finished second in the straw poll following the third debate. Excluding my campaign from this panel is an affront to the primary process and to the tens of thousands of Michiganders supporting our movement statewide.”

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Additionally, Chase Vogt, Deputy Campaign Manager for Ralph Rebandt, released the following statement to us on behalf of Rebandt and the campaign: “The decision regarding which candidates were invited to participate was unilaterally decided by the Committee and its Chairwoman. Our campaign formally requested that Ralph Rebandt be asked to sit on the panel; clearly, that request was denied – despite our demonstrated grassroots support and clear ability to qualify for the ballot, as seen in 2022.”

Vogt went on to say, “The Committee and its Chairwoman did not reach out to inquire about potential benchmarks to appear on the panel, but our historical success in signature gathering, as well as our financial resources being comparable to other candidates, when added to our polling success at the MIGOP debate in Traverse City, is irrefutable evidence to show that Ralph Rebandt earned a spot on the stage. A fair and transparent primary process is essential if Republicans are serious about winning statewide. When party leadership puts ego or internal politics ahead of the citizens of Michigan, it undermines confidence in that process.”

Michigan News Source reached out to Anne DeLisle, the 8th Congressional District Republican Party’s chairperson about why Rebandt wasn’t invited to the event. She did not return our request for comment.

Silence isn’t a strategy.

From the outside, the optics for the Michigan GOP are rough. Democrats organize relentlessly, keep coordinated messaging, and never stop fundraising. Republicans, meanwhile, appear largely silent with their own base. When the Mackinac Policy Conference was promoted, GOP inboxes were flooded. Now? Radio silence. At a moment when Republicans need energy, clarity, and donor confidence heading into critical elections, the quiet is deafening. Outreach feels nonexistent. And as Ralph warns, if business as usual continues, Michigan Republicans may once again be left asking – after another loss – how it all went wrong.

What’s the plan? Is there one?

Some wonder whether the MIGOP is waiting for the general election to officially begin before engaging voters. If so, that delay could be costly. Others suspect party insiders have already settled on preferred candidates, making broad voter engagement unnecessary. Rebandt appears to believe that’s exactly what’s happening.

In his video, Ralph positioned himself as the opposite of an insider: “I have never been on the inside. I have never served in party leadership. I am not tainted by backroom deals.” Instead, he says he’s “a grassroots fighter for every Michigander.”

While parties talk—or don’t—voters keep looking at their wallets.

While Democrats have recently circulated surveys to gauge what issues matter most to their supporters, there has been little public indication that Republicans have done the same with their own base, leaving broader polling across the entire electorate as their only measure of voter priorities. A Mitchell–MIRS- Michigan poll conducted Nov. 18–21, 2025, surveyed 616 likely general election voters. Asked to name the single issue most influencing their vote for governor, 36% cited the economy and inflation – by far the top concern. “Threats to democracy” followed at 16%, while crime and policing and healthcare each drew 10%. Lower-tier issues included climate change and the environment (6%), abortion (6%), and roads and traffic (5%), with 5% choosing “other” and another 5% unsure.

The bottom line.

Taken together, the communication breakdown and possible infighting within the MIGOP suggest the party isn’t fully in sync with its own candidates or the voters it needs to turn out. While families are worried about the cost of living, jobs, and public safety, a lack of access to candidates and a lack of messaging risks drowning out those conversations – leaving Republicans without a clear path to channel voter frustration and concern into victories on Election Day.