WARREN, Mich. (AP) 鈥� With voting underway in Michigan's general election, the Republican nominee for secretary of state stepped on stage as a warm-up act for former President Donald Trump and hit hard on the main theme of her campaign.
repeated unfounded assertions about the 2020 presidential election that have been repeatedly She told the crowd at the that 鈥渁uthoritarians鈥� are giving millions to her Democratic opponent 鈥� Secretary of State 鈥� in an attempt to 鈥渃orrupt battleground state election systems so they can control America.鈥�
鈥淚f you look at history, it shows you what tyrants do," said Karamo, a former community college professor. "History is telling us, history is screaming to us, that if we don鈥檛 step up and fight now, we will lose the greatest country in human history.鈥�
It was an address designed to rev up the crowd of devoted Trump followers, some of whom have latched onto the .
While Karamo's speech drew cheers, relying on a general election strategy that appeals to the most far-right voters is a gamble for Michigan Republicans.
Candidates who have to play to their party's base during primaries or nominating conventions often shift toward the center, aiming to attract more voters for the general election. But that hasn't happened this year for the Republicans seeking Michigan's top three statewide offices 鈥� governor, attorney general and secretary of state.
The Nov. 8 election will test whether campaigns designed to resonate with the far-right and highlight strong ties to Trump will be enough to win in a traditional swing state, where the Republican incumbent lost the White House race to Democrat challenger Joe Biden by more than 154,000 votes in 2020.
All three GOP candidates stood behind Trump during the Oct. 1 rally at the college about 20 miles north of Detroit, joined by Rep. , R-Ga., and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Trump's to audiences across the country.
Trump the 2020 election was 鈥渞igged and stolen鈥� in Michigan, citing 鈥渆vidence鈥� he said first originated with Karamo and , a tax lawyer who is the nominee for state attorney general.
In his own address to the crowd, DePerno called Democrats 鈥渞adical, cultural Marxists" who want to 鈥渟ilence you."
鈥淚f that doesn't work, they want to put you in jail,鈥� DePerno told the crowd, which fell into chants of 鈥淟ock her up." All three Democratic incumbents are women.
DePerno's campaign also is clouded by into whether he should be criminally charged for attempting to gain access to voting machines after the 2020 election.
John DeBlaay, a Grand Rapids real estate agent and precinct delegate who attended the rally, said he was thrilled with the candidates. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got the best America First ticket all the way from top to bottom that we鈥檝e had in a long time now," he said.
Some moderate Republicans are skeptical that campaigns appealing mostly to base elements of the party will be enough to beat Democratic incumbents with wide name recognition and sizable fundraising advantages. The Democrats also are expected to benefit from having an amendment on the ballot that seeks to in the state constitution.
These Republicans say inflation, gas prices and economic anxiety should be the GOP's main talking points, not a continued alignment with Trump and about costing him .
They point to the unusual way Michigan selects its attorney general and secretary of state candidates, a process done through a party nominating convention rather than through a primary election in which voters make the choice.
The most conservative Republicans who are loyal to Trump dominated that convention in April. The party鈥檚 co-chair, Meshawn Maddock, was one of 16 Republicans who submitted stating they were the state鈥檚 presidential electors despite Biden鈥檚 certified victory in the state.
Three weeks before the convention, during another Trump rally, DePerno encouraged attendees 鈥� many of them precinct delegates 鈥� to 鈥渟torm鈥� the party gathering and said it was 鈥渢ime for the grassroots to unite.鈥�
Delegates overwhelmingly voted to nominate Karamo. DePerno won a runoff over former legislative leader Tom Leonard, who lost in the 2018 attorney general's race by 3 percentage points to Democrat Dana Nessel.
鈥淜aramo and DePerno are among the most loyal to Donald Trump that you will find anywhere in the country,鈥� said Jason Roe, a longtime Republican strategist. 鈥淭hat loyalty has been unshakable in this election process, regardless of how it might affect general election prospects.鈥�
Roe, whose father served as the Michigan GOP鈥檚 executive director for 10 years, became executive director of the state party in spring 2021. Six months later, he stepped down due to a 鈥渄ifference in opinion on how many conspiracy theories we should tolerate.鈥�
Soon after Roe left, Trump began calling party leaders to 鈥渇orce the party to embrace things formally that weren鈥檛 going to be helpful to the upcoming election,鈥� Roe said.
The party's candidate for governor, Tudor Dixon, during the primary in August after receiving Trump's endorsement. Dixon, a conservative news show host who once acted in low-budget horror films, also benefited from support of .
While seen as less extreme than Karamo and DePerno, Dixon indicated during debates that she thought the 2020 presidential election was stolen and she recently to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. Dixon has since tried to pivot away from denying the results of the last election by focusing on topics such as inflation and education, but she also is repeating hard-right rhetoric on cultural issues.
She has called for banning 鈥減ornographic鈥� books in schools and has pitched an education agenda modeled after the Florida policy that critics have labeled
While Democrats have attacked DePerno and Karamo for their continued denial of Biden's victory in 2020, they have focused on what they describe as . Lackluster fundraising has made it difficult for her to push back.
As of Aug. 22, Dixon had $524,000 in the bank compared with Whitmer鈥檚 $14 million, according to the latest available campaign finance reports. Some of that gap has been closed by the super PAC Michigan Families United, which has received $2.5 million in donations, including from the DeVos family.
鈥淚 just don鈥檛 like that there鈥檚 no commercials on TV about Dixon. Everything you see is about the other people, and it鈥檚 all negative,鈥� said Laura Bunting, an Ionia County resident who attended the Trump rally.
Karamo and DePerno had a combined $422,554 cash on hand as of Sept. 16 compared with the $5.7 million combined for their Democratic opponents, according to campaign finance reports.
Michigan-based pollster Bernie Porn said the Republican candidates have been defined by their extreme stances but that none has attracted enough money to get on TV and introduce themselves to a broader swath of voters. That, he said, "makes it difficult for folks to form a favorable opinion of you.鈥�
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Joey Cappelletti is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse 撸奶社区 Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
Joey Cappelletti, The Associated Press
