©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 24, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/ Photo files
By Nathan Layne
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (Reuters) – Donald Trump dominated early returns in Michigan’s Republican caucuses on Saturday, a presidential nominating contest he was poised to win amid simmering domestic turbulence.
With 10 of 13 precincts reporting results, Trump was defeating Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival for the Republican nomination, with about 97% support, according to a tally reported by the state Republican Party.
The state will be a key battleground in November’s general election, a likely rematch between Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Nearly 2,000 party insiders had registered to attend the presidential caucus in the western Michigan city of Grand Rapids, where they will choose delegates for Trump or former U.N. Ambassador Haley, for the party’s national nominating convention in July.
Republicans will also hold caucuses in Missouri and Idaho on Saturday, among the final contests for Haley to alter the course of the race before Super Tuesday on March 5, the biggest day of the primaries, when 15 states and one territory will vote.
With victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the U.S. Virgin Islands and South Carolina under his belt, Trump is by far the favorite in the race, with Haley holding on thanks to support from donors eager for an alternative to the former president.
For this election cycle, Michigan Republicans have devised a hybrid nominating system, split between primaries and caucuses.
Trump won the primaries convincingly on Tuesday, securing 12 of the 16 delegates up for grabs. It could take all of Michigan’s remaining 39 delegates into play on Saturday, as it will come down to the roughly 2,000 district delegates who make up the party’s activist base that leans heavily toward Trump.
“The expectation is that Trump will eliminate delegates from the convention,” said Matt Grossman, a political scientist at Michigan State University. “The party activists were for Trump, but the voters were also for Trump.”
The race held Saturday in Michigan sparked potential confusion and could generate protests. Internal unrest has been brewing in the party for months, pitting supporters of former Michigan Republican Party Chair Kristina Karamo against the faction of party members who voted to oust her on Jan. 6 and installed Pete Hoekstra as chair.
Hoekstra, whom Trump endorsed for president, is overseeing the convention in Grand Rapids. Karamo had planned to headline a dueling convention in Detroit on Saturday, but that was canceled after a Michigan court this week upheld his ouster and an appeals court denied his request to stay the sentence.
At the convention, the district’s delegates split into 13 different caucuses, one for each of the state’s congressional districts. If a candidate wins a majority of votes in a caucus, he or she will take all three of its delegates, for a maximum total of 39.
Pro-Karamo party chairs for at least two districts have called for caucus meetings separately from Grand Rapids. However, the results are unlikely to be accepted by the Republican National Committee, which formally recognized Hoekstra as state party chairman last month.
Hoekstra served as the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump’s presidency. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the caucus meetings, he said he was confident the Michigan Republican Party would unite around the goal of winning the White House and a U.S. Senate seat up for grabs and retaking the state House.
“There is no philosophical divide or issue divide,” Hoekstra said. “It’s about preparing the party to win in November… The goal is to beat Joe Biden.”