Michigan Republican Party

The Republican Party was born in the early 1850s by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. The first official Republican meeting took place on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan, with David S. Walbridge serving as chairman. The name "Republican" was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. At the Jackson convention, the new party adopted a platform and nominated candidates for office in Michigan.

In 1856, the Republicans became a national party when John C. Fremont was nominated for president of the United States under the "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont" slogan. Even though they were considered a "third party" because the Democrats and Whigs represented the two-party system at the time, Fremont received 33 percent of the vote. Four years later, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to win the White House.

Republicans have been elected to the governorship of Michigan in 27 of 48 gubernatorial elections. The first was Kingsley Bingham in 1855 and the most recent is Rick Snyder, who was elected in 2010, and then re-elected in 2014.

After President Richard Nixon resigned due to the Watergate Scandal, his Vice-President Gerald Ford became the 38th President of the United States. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and served as a U.S. Representative from Michigan from 1949 to 1973.

Following the 2016 election and Reince Priebus' selection to be White House Chief of Staff, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel became Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Then President-elect Trump recommended McDaniel in December 2016 to replace Priebus.[8] She was officially elected as RNC chair on January 19, 2017, becoming the second woman to hold the post in RNC history, after Mary Louise Smith.[6]

After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election in Michigan and Donald Trump refused to concede, the Michigan Republican Party pushed false claims of fraud and sough to overturn the election results.[9][10][11] In January 2021, the Michigan Republican Party sought to replace GOP member Aaron Van Langevelde on the Michigan Board of Canvassers; he had previously voted to certify the Michigan election results in favor of Joe Biden.[12] One of the candidates that the Michigan Republican Party sought to nominate to that position was Linda Lee Tarver who had been involved in efforts to overturn the election results.[12]

The following are in order of Presidential succession.

Charles Wilson, nicknamed "Engine Charlie", was formerly CEO of GM

The Michigan Republican State Committee is the state central committee of the Michigan Republican Party. It is composed of seven members from each of Michigan's fifteen Congressional district Republican committees, the Chairman, Co-Chairman, the various Vice Chairmen of the Party, and the Secretary, Treasurer and General and Financial Counsels. It selects Michigan's two representatives to the Republican National Committee. Additionally, the Chairperson of each County Republican Party organization is a non-voting ex officio member of the State Committee.

Chairmen of the Michigan Republican State Committee

Henry P. Baldwin is the only former Governor to become party chairman. Bagley and Groesbeck had not been Governor yet.

Name	Residence	Years Served
Joseph Warren	Detroit	1854–1855
James M. Edmunds	Detroit	1855–1861
E.C. Walker	Detroit	1861–1862
William Alanson Howard[13]	Detroit	1862–1868
Governor John J. Bagley[14]	Detroit	1868–1870
Stephen D. Bingham	Lansing	1870–1878
George H. Hopkins	Detroit	1878
Zachariah Chandler[15]	Detroit	1878–1879
James McMillan[16]	Detroit	1879–1880
Governor Henry P. Baldwin[17]	Detroit	1880–1882
Edward S. Lacey	Charlotte	1882–1884
Philip T. Van Zile	Charlotte	1884–1886
James McMillan	Detroit	1886–1888
George H. Hopkins	Detroit	1888–1890
James McMillan	Detroit	1890–1896
Dexter M. Ferry	Detroit	1896–1898
Arthur M. Marsh	Allegan	1898–1900
Gerrit J. Diekema[18]	Holland	1900–1910
W.F. Knox	Sault Ste. Marie	1910–1912
Governor Alex Groesbeck[19]	Detroit	1912–1914
Gilman M. Dame	Northport	1914–1916
John D. Mangum	Marquette	1916–1918
Burt D. Cady	Port Huron	1919–1925
Kennedy L. Potter	Jackson	1925–1927
Gerrit J. Diekema	Holland	1927–1929
Howard C. Lawrence	Ionia and Saginaw	1929–1937
James F. Thomson	Jackson	1937–1940
Leslie B. Butler	Lansing	1940–1942
John R. Dethmers[20]	Holland	1942–1945
John A. Wagner	Battle Creek	1945–1949
Owen Cleary[21]	Ypsilanti	1949–1953
John Feikens[22]	Detroit	1953–1957
Lawrence Lindemer	Stockbridge	1957–1961
George Van Peursem	Zeeland	1961–1963
Arthur G. Elliott, Jr.	Birmingham	1963–1965
Elly M. Peterson[23]	Charlotte	1965–1969
William F. McLaughlin	Northville	1969–1979
Melvin L. Larson	Oxford	1979–1983
E. Spencer Abraham[24]	East Lansing	1983–1991
David J. Doyle	Okemos	1991–1995
Susy Heintz (Avery)	Clinton Township	1995–1996
Elisabeth "Betsy" DeVos[25]	Grand Rapids	1996–2000
Gerald "Rusty" Hills[26]	East Lansing	2000–2003
Elisabeth "Betsy" DeVos	Grand Rapids	2003–2005
Saulius "Saul" Anuzis	Lansing	2005–2009
Ron Weiser[27]	Ann Arbor	2009–2011
Robert "Bobby" Schostak	Oakland County	2011–2015
Ronna Romney McDaniel	Northville	2015–2017
Ron Weiser[27]	Ann Arbor	2017–2019
Laura Cox	Livonia	2019–Present

• Michigan Republican Party
• Michigan Young Republicans
• Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference