Meshawn Maddock vows to take on the ‘3 witches ruling our state' as Michigan GOP chair

Yahoo

27-01-2025

Former MIGOP Chair Meshawn Maddock nominates J.D. Vance as vice president of the United States during the Dec. 17, 2024 meeting of Michigan's electoral college delegates. | Kyle Davidson
Former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock, who is facing felony forgery and conspiracy charges, was the overwhelming favorite in a straw poll Saturday among the four candidates vying to succeed former Ambassador Pete Hoekstra as party chair.
The poll, taken among those present at a GOP forum in Southwest Michigan's Berrien County, followed a forum featuring Maddock and the three other candidates: state Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake), Republican consultant Scott Greenlee and Joe Cella, former ambassador to Fiji during the first Trump administration.
Out of the 60 people who participated, Maddock was the top pick to be chair for 66.7%. Runestad was next at 23.3%, Greenlee polled at 8.3% and then Cella received 1.7%.
Maddock, who is married to state Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford), has been a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, who won Michigan for a second time in 2024. That's made Republicans optimistic about their chances to retake the top offices in Michigan in the 2026 election.
'I have the personality to lead because I alone have fought the hostile fake news among all of my opponents the most,' Meshawn Maddock said in her opening statement in which she then compared Democrats in the state to communists.
She said as a woman, she was uniquely qualified to take on the 'three witches that are right now ruling our state,' referencing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, all Democrats.
Maddock is among 15 people charged by Nessel's office in the 2020 fake electors case, where they stand accused of sending false electoral votes for Trump to the U.S. Senate and National Archives. That case is still pending in court.
Maddock's remarks appeared to be a callback to a 2021 comment from her former running mate, former Michigan GOP Chair Ron Weiser.
'I made the decision to continue to serve [as chair] to make sure we have an opportunity to take out those three witches' in 2022, Weiser said during a North Oakland Republican Club meeting, referring to Whitmer, Nessel and Benson. '… Our job now is to soften up those three witches and make sure that when we have good candidates to run against them, that they are ready for the — for the burning at the stake.'
Although Weiser received significant criticism, Maddock defended him.
During that same meeting, Weiser was asked what should be done about then-U.S. Reps. Peter Meijer (R-Grand Rapids) and Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), who both broke with their party to vote for Trump's second impeachment following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
'Ma'am, other than assassination, I have no other way … other than voting [them] out,' Weiser said at the time.
Weiser was also serving as a University of Michigan regent and was censured by the board for his comments. He apologized but refused to resign.
Michigan Republicans will decide on a new party chair at their convention Feb. 21 and 22 at Huntington Place in Detroit, after Hoekstra announced his departure to serve as Trump's ambassador to Canada.
Runestad established his MAGA bona fides, noting that as an Oakland County commissioner he had helped implement the federal E-Verify program that allows verification whether employees are eligible to work in the United States.
'It broomed out thousands of illegal immigrants out of Oakland County,' he said. 'I was ranked the most conservative there for 10 years. I've been ranked among the most conservative legislators in Lansing.'
Greenlee, who ran for party chair in 2023 but lost to former Chair Kristina Karamo, emphasized his experience at all levels of the party, which was notable in the wake of Karamo's ill-fated tenure, which led to charges of bankrupting the party and a forcible removal by committee members in January 2024.
'You're hiring a chief executive officer to oversee the entire party over the next election cycle, and I believe I'm extremely well qualified to do this,' said Greenlee. 'I've served at the county level; I've served at the district level; I've served as a state committee person, a state vice chair. I've been a delegate to national conventions, and I've been part of over 100 winning campaigns ranging from city council races, all the way up to staff roles and gubernatorial races, presidential races.'
Cella highlighted his service in the first Trump administration.
'I am uniquely equipped and stand apart from my colleagues in several ways,' he said. 'I am the only one who was chosen by President Trump to serve on his 2016 campaign and then be chosen to serve as a United States ambassador for the United States.'
Maddock, as she did throughout the forum, questioned Cella's qualifications to lead the party.
'He was recruited by very powerful forces that want to stop Donald Trump. He was an ambassador for 12 months, and the only reason he became an ambassador is he snuck in through the Mike Pence people,' said Maddock, referring to Trump's vice president in his first term who ran afoul of many Republicans when he refused to participate in Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election win of former President Joe Biden.
'I'm sorry, I've heard you're a really nice guy, but I don't think you should be running for state party chair,' said Maddock.
Saturday's forum was moderated by state Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) and state Sen. Jonathan Lindsey (R-Coldwater), who opened the questions by asking each candidate their plans to improve state party finances.
'We need to talk to the delegates, see what their priorities are, so that it's not just several people in Lansing making individual decisions for things that are going to impact us down here in Berrien County or up in the U.P. [Upper Peninsula] or over in Alpena,' said Greenlee.
Greenlee said that would best be accomplished by working with the state committee to make sure the party stays in compliance with its own rules.
'One of the advantages I bring is working in the business of politics has given me an opportunity to know vendors, to see who's charging what to understand market rates, and in doing that, I'll be able to make sure we get every single penny out of every single dollar,' he said.
Runestad made the case that money was the lifeblood of the party, and a major transfusion would be needed to keep it moving in the right direction.
'I think we're gonna have a $300,000 to $400,000 debt from what I'm hearing, so you got to raise money right away,' he said, mentioning a recent rule change in which MIGOP chair candidates are each required to make a $15,000 donation to the state party, with no more than $2,500 of their own money.
'I raised that the very next day, six weeks ago,' he said, noting that just the day before, the party's policy committee said only he Cella had met that threshold.
'The other two, six weeks later, still have not raised the money. You're gonna have to raise millions and millions of dollars to keep this thing open,' said Runestad.
Maddock immediately rebutted, saying she had raised $16,800 in a single group text to supporters, and then turned the attack back on Runestad.
'This fee is not a difficult fee for any of the four of us to raise, but I also want to remind everybody that Sen. Runstad has been campaigning, probably at more than five events, claiming that he also raised $120,000 in addition to his $15,000, and I can tell you that that $120,000 is not in any bank account at the Michigan Republican Party, so I can only assume it's in some other type of a PAC [political action committee],' she said.
Runestad responded to Maddock's accusation by questioning her own fundraising claim.
'What you put in some accounts somewhere else isn't the $15,000 by six different people,' he said. 'I have raised the $15,000. The $100,000 I raised since then, and I'm raising a whole lot more. … The money that was needed to be raised, I raised the next day.'
Cella took a more optimistic approach, crediting Hoekstra's leadership with turning the party in the right direction.
'I have to give a hat tip to my former ambassadorial colleague Peter Hoekstra, who slogged through very, very, very difficult work over the course of seven months in what most chairmen have two years to do,' he said. 'So the foundations are poured, the pilings are set to rebuild the Michigan Republican Party and make the Michigan Republican Party great again.'
Trump, who endorsed attorney Matt DePerno in the 2023 race for party chair, has yet to offer an endorsement in this year's contest. DePerno is also facing felony charges of tampering with a voting machine.
In 2026, Michigan's government will be up for grabs, as Whitmer, Nessel, and Benson are all term-limited, while every seat in the state House and Senate will be on the ballot. U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.) also is up for reelection.
With so much on the line, Maddock questioned Runestad's ability to lead the party.
'I don't know if you know this, but he is planning on continuing to be a full-time state senator and your full-time state party chair. I believe that that is a disservice to the Senate. I think it's kind of insulting to the Senate,' she said. 'We are not gonna win the governor's race back with a part-time chair.'
Michigan Democrats will also be deciding on a new party chair at their convention next month at Detroit's Renaissance Center.
In the running are former state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing), who recently lost his bid for the U.S. House; Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus Chair Mark Ludwig; and community organizer Al 'B.J.' Williams.
Each is seeking to replace Lavora Barnes, who announced in November she would not seek reelection to the post she had held since 2019.
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