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TRANSCRIPT
Church Militant (a 501(c)4 corporation) is responsible for the content of this commentary.
Just like Christmas, the November midterm elections will be here before you know it. The state primary races are an excellent preview of what’s to come in November.
Church Militant’s Kristine Christlieb was at Michigan’s GOP Endorsement Convention, where the delegate energy level lit up the power grid.
Both of Michigan’s Trump-endorsed statewide candidates walked away winners from Saturday’s convention.
Kristina Karamo easily won the GOP secretary of state nomination with 67% of delegates voting her way in the first round.
She will be pitted against Democrat Jocelyn Benson, despised by Republicans for her role in blocking the investigation of election fraud.
But it was the attorney general race that created the greatest stir.
Tom Leonard, Ryan Berman and Matt DePerno faced off in the first round, with none of the three candidates receiving 50% of the vote, the threshold for winning nomination.
Berman came in last but then gave his support to Leonard, a throwback kind of Republican candidate, former speaker of the state House in 2017–18.
DePerno was a constitutional lawyer who made a name for himself battling for election integrity, drawing nationwide attention to voting irregularities in Antrim County.
Matt DePerno: “That destruction of those ballot images is a federal crime, and we’re calling on the attorney general, Dana Nessel, to investigate.”
But Leonard argued DePerno had too much personal baggage and would get slaughtered by the Democrats in November.
Before the first round of voting, DePerno was on the convention floor answering delegates’ questions.
Barry Doherty, Michigan delegate: “There’s a lot of slanderous things that are being said against him. And I just had to ask him about a couple of things that I’m hearing and how he would address it.”
Before the second round of voting began, DePerno supporters formed what amounted to a conga line, encircling convention delegates with their chants and cheers for DePerno.
Leonard supporters were overwhelmed, first, by the energy, then by the delegate votes.
If Michigan’s GOP convention is any indication, the Trump base is fired up and ousting candidates they don’t think will put America first.
The next primaries are May 3 in Indiana and Ohio. Church Militant will be providing in-depth reporting on those races as well.
