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Weiser emerges as top prospect to be MI GOP chair

"Republican Elephant - Icon" by DonkeyHotey is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The Michigan Republican Party is expected to choose a new leadership team at its convention next month.

Current chair Laura Cox has withdrawn from a reelection bid, clearing the way for millionaire businessman Ron Weiser.

Michigan helped deliver the White House to President-elect Joe Biden and last year Democrats swept the top ballot races, including Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s victory. Ron Weiser has served twice before as state GOP chair during some successful election cycles for Republicans.

Longtime Republican consultant John Sellek says a challenge now for Weiser and the state GOP is moving past the controversies of President Donald Trump’s administration.

“And I think him being out of the White House does not guarantee that he’s still not pulling the strings,” said Sellek.

One new controversy now is the presence of Meshawn Maddock on the leadership ticket with Weiser. That’s because she helped organize busses of pro-Trump supporters this week to Washington DC, where pro-Trump extremists stormed the US Capitol.