Michigan Had No Seat at RNC Meeting, but 2 People Showed Up For It

Kristina Karamo, the party’s far-right leader of almost a year, and Pete Hoekstra, a former House member who was elected to replace her, converged at a Republican National Committee conclave.

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Kristina Karamo, an election-denying crusader who has led the Michigan Republican party as chair for almost a year, was removed from her position on Jan. 6.

At a gathering of Republican Party bosses from across the nation on Wednesday, a seat was missing: Michigan, a critical battleground for the November election, did not have a reservation to the event.

Not that the chair would have been empty.

Two rivals — Kristina Karamo, an election-denying crusader who has led the state party as chair for almost a year, and Pete Hoekstra, a former longtime House member who was recently elected to replace her — have both staked a claim to the post.

The dispute has wreaked havoc on Republicans in the swing state, spilling over into court with less than a month until the party holds its presidential primary there.

It has also become a microcosm of the lingering tensions between the party’s far-right wing and its old guard, competing factions with often overlapping loyalties to former President Donald J. Trump. Ms. Karamo’s rise was fueled by her claims of fraud in the 2020 election, while Mr. Hoekstra served as Mr. Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands.

So when they converged at the Horseshoe Las Vegas for the R.N.C.’s winter meetings this week, neither got official recognition. Organizers relegated Ms. Karamo and Mr. Hoekstra to guest credentials, barring them from voting on party resolutions amid a continuing review of who is the rightful chair.

Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Hoekstra for the post on Friday, but that seems not to matter much to Ms. Karamo.

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