GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — It was around 5:35 p.m. on Saturday when the leaders of the Michigan Republican Party, whose members had spent the day sermonizing about election integrity, realized their nominating convention might be lacking that virtue. This issue revealed itself at an ironic juncture: A runoff to determine who would be the party’s nominee for attorney general, the office that would be called upon to protect fair and free elections — or, perhaps, undermine them.
The heart of the confusion was simple: The order of the would-be nominees on the ballot given to delegates was different from what appeared on the projectors at the front of the convention hall. A crisis for democracy this was not — it was an inconvenience at best and quickly remedied. But after years of railing against rigged elections, delegates privately admitted this wasn’t a great look.
Roughly 2,000 Michigan Republicans had convened to choose their nominees for key statewide offices. A pair of Donald Trump acolytes were seeking the nominations for attorney general and secretary of state against less extreme alternatives. Attorney General candidate Matt DePerno is an attorney who gained acclaim for pursuing litigation against election results in counties throughout Michigan. Secretary of state candidate Kristina Karamo is a community-college professor who rose to prominence claiming she witnessed election fraud in Detroit during the 2020 election. Their fealty to election conspiracies had earned...
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