LANSING, Mich. — The newly installed chair of the Michigan Republican Party and other members of the state GOP are suing to have the group’s former leader, Kristina Karamo, officially declared removed from office.
Malinda Pego, Michigan Republican Party Administrative Vice President Ali Hossein and Party Coalition Vice President Hassan Nehme are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Friday in Kent County Circuit Court in Grand Rapids.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract.
A group of Michigan Republican state committee members voted Jan. 6 to oust Karamo, an election denier and supporter of former President Donald Trump. Many of the party’s leaders had called for his resignation after a year of leadership plagued by debt and infighting.
About 45 people, not including representatives, attended the meeting in Commerce Township, where Karamo was removed as president. Nearly 89% of those present voted to remove her, Bree Moeggenberg, a District 2 state committee member, said after the meeting.
Pego had been Karamo’s co-president. Pego serves as interim president until another election for president is held.
Karamo was elected about a year ago. He did not attend the January 6 meeting and made it clear that he will not recognize the vote, claiming that the meeting was unofficial and had been organized illegally. Karamo held his own meeting on January 13.
The Associated Press on Saturday left an email seeking comment from Karamo.
The lawsuit says the Jan. 13 meeting was illegal and inappropriate.
“EM. Karamo’s refusal to allow the committee and the Michigan Republican Party to move forward, particularly with an election cycle rapidly approaching, requires swift judicial intervention,” according to the lawsuit.
The internal dispute comes as Michigan Republicans look to bounce back from the 2022 midterm elections in which they suffered historic losses. The party aims this year to win an open seat in the U.S. Senate while helping the Republican presidential candidate win the battleground state.
Michigan is one of several swing states where parties overtaken by far-right leadership have struggled to overcome infighting and economic problems. Similar situations have developed in Georgia and Arizona, posing a major problem in the 2024 presidential election, where those states are poised to play critical roles.
Karamo, a former community college instructor, rose in Michigan’s Republican ranks by spreading election conspiracies after the 2020 presidential election. He eventually received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump in his bid for secretary of state in 2022, losing by 14 percentage points in a result that it still refuses to concede.