As Trump readies for return to Michigan, cracks appear in his support

When Donald Trump arrives in Michigan on Sunday to campaign for a return to the White House, the former president likely won't have the same entourage of elected Republican leaders who were closely aligned with him in the past.

Only a handful of the 72 Republicans who serve in the Michigan Legislature had publicly endorsed Trump's bid for another term as president by Thursday, a trend that highlights concerns among some GOP leaders in a state that once helped propel him to the White House.

While 25 Michigan Republican lawmakers had backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president, only three legislators confirmed they were supporting Trump, according to a Detroit News analysis of interviews and announcements that covered the positions of 61 of the 72 GOP legislators. One lawmaker backed former Trump United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.

Thirty-one of the officeholders said they either weren't ready to make an endorsement or didn't plan to deliver one at any point before Michigan's Feb. 27 presidential primary election. Attempts to reach the other 12 GOP lawmakers in recent days were unsuccessful.

Many Republicans — some of whom championed Trump as a candidate in the past — said they were either focusing on trying to win back control of the Michigan House in 2024 or didn't want to get involved in the divisive and crowded Republican presidential contest. Among the other candidates are former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

"It's a hot-button issue in my district," said Rep. Ken Borton, R-Mich. "I supported Trump the first time around. But I am going to stay out of it. Whoever the Republican candidate is who comes out of it, I'll be there for them 100%."

Trump is scheduled to make his first campaign stop in Michigan Sunday night since launching his third bid for the presidency. He is set to speak at the Oakland County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner inside Novi's Suburban Collection Showplace.

Unlike his 2020 reelection bid, Trump's third campaign for the presidency is drawing much less enthusiasm among Republican state lawmakers, who are in the minority in both houses of the Legislature for the first time in 40 years.

Rep. John Roth, R-Mich., said he was supporting DeSantis in part because the Florida governor is younger and more careful with his words than Trump. The party needs to stop focusing on the 2020 presidential election, Roth said, referencing false and unproven claims of voter fraud that the former president and some of his supporters have made about his defeat to President Joe Biden.

"(If) we keep talking about 2020, we lose," Roth said. "It's that simple. We have to go forward and look at the future."

Trump lost Michigan's election in 2020 by 154,000 votes to Biden, who is seeking reelection in 2024. Despite investigations and audits upholding the result, Trump has maintained murky assertions that wrongdoing swayed the race.

Republican state Rep. Mark Tisdel said he is endorsing Haley for president, arguing her work as South Carolina's governor and her track record as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations showed a certain pragmatism and ability to work with a wide variety of people that could translate into attracting independent and moderate voters from both parties.

Tisdel was proud of some of Trump's accomplishments as president, but he said people are "sick and tired of the acrimony."

"We need simple, down-to-earth approaches to real problems," said Tisdel, whose 55th House District represents a nearly 50-50 split of Democrats and Republicans.

Rep. Bradley Slagh, R-Mich., said he didn't see a clear path to the 2024 GOP nomination for any of the candidates at this point, so he remains neutral. And state Sen Mark Huizenga, a Republican who won a key swing seat in the Grand Rapids area last year, said he also isn't ready to make an endorsement.

Asked if he thought Trump could win Michigan, Huizenga responded, "It's just too early to call that."

Rep. Steve Carra, R-Mich., who's supporting Trump, dismissed the early endorsement tallies, saying more lawmakers will come out in support of Trump in the near future. Other legislators acknowledged in interviews that many voters still favor Trump.

"More status quo type of elected officials know that DeSantis is the best chance to beat Trump," Carra said. "That's not all of them who are behind DeSantis, but that's certainly some of them.

Rocky Raczkowski, a former state lawmaker, was the chairman of the Oakland County Republican Party during the 2020 and 2022 elections, in which the Michigan GOP suffered defeats at the top ticket. For 2024, Raczkowski is endorsing DeSantis for the GOP nomination.

Raczkowski touted DeSantis' record as governor of Florida and his military experience. Raczkowski said he would support Trump if he became the Republican nominee, but added that he's looking for a candidate that could serve multiple terms and had a "little bit more youth and vigor."

Trump, who has already served one term, could serve only one four-year term if reelected. Trump is 77 years old, while DeSantis is 44.

"You would be a one-term president with a lot of arrows pointed your way," Raczkowski said of Trump. "And those arrows hurt our down-ballot candidates, and we need those down-ballot candidates to win races."

Those arrows include criminal probes hanging over Trump's head as 2024's primary season nears. He's facing a federal indictment over allegations he mishandled classified documents and an ongoing investigation into his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. In New York, the Manhattan district attorney has charged Trump with a series of financial crimes stemming from hush money payments made to allegedly bury revelations of an extramarital sexual encounter with a porn star before the 2016 election.

The criminal charges do not prevent the former president from running for office again. Trump has called the charges "baseless" and claimed they're part of "one witch hunt after another to try and stop our movement ..."

In 2022, the candidates whom Trump endorsed for governor, attorney general and secretary of state in Michigan all lost. The closest race was for attorney general, in which Democrat Dana Nessel defeated Republican Matt DePerno by 9 percentage points.

The problems at the top of the ticket helped Republicans lose control of the state House and state Senate for the first time in nearly four decades. Earlier this year, Trump endorsed DePerno to become chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, a contest he lost to Kristina Karamo, the former secretary of state candidate.

Since Trump won Michigan over Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 10,700 votes in 2016, Republicans have lost nine of the statewide races at the top of ballots in the battleground state: a presidential election in 2020, U.S. Senate contests in 2018 and 2020, and races for governor, attorney general and secretary of state in 2018 and 2022.

Despite the string of defeats, GOP leaders argued that frustrations with Biden's performance during his first term and Trump's ability to energize new voters still give him a pathway to victory in Michigan in the fall of 2024.

Walking toward the Michigan Capitol on Wednesday, state Rep. Joseph Aragona, a Republican, said it was a great time to be a Republican and the party had high-quality candidates for president.

"Donald Trump did a lot of great things," Aragona said. "I think Ron DeSantis has done a killer job in Florida. ... I look at our field, and I get excited about how much talent is there."

Aragona is among the GOP lawmakers in Michigan who said they don't plan to endorse a presidential candidate because they want to leave the decision up to voters.

Aragona's home county of Macomb has been a symbol of Trump's ability to outperform expectations. Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, won Macomb by 5 percentage points in 2022 and 3 percentage points in 2018. But in 2020, Trump took the county, Michigan's third largest, by 8 points over Biden.

The three Republican lawmakers who endorsed Trump this week were Carra, Rep. Matt Maddock of Milford and Rep. Bob Bezotte of Howell.

For years, Maddock and his wife, former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chairwoman Meshawn Maddock, have been among the most outspoken Trump supporters in the state. Trump unsuccessfully pushed for Matt Maddock to become the House GOP leader in 2022.

"I will be voting for, and encouraging everyone else to vote for, America's favorite president: Donald Trump," Maddock said.

In 2016, Trump became the first Republican since George H.W. Bush in 1988 to carry Michigan. His supporters have taken over much of the state GOP's political apparatus in the seven years since that first election victory.

Bezotte argued Trump had done more for Americans than any president in his lifetime. Many politicians put their self-interest first, but that's not the case with Trump, he said.

"The one key word, I think, would be loyalty," Bezotte said of his support for Trump.

Some of the Michigan Republicans who said they weren't ready to make an endorsement this week indicated support for Trump's candidacy could come down the road. State Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, a Republican was endorsed by Trump ahead of his election to the Legislature in 2022.

"I think (Trump) had a very strong track record while he was there, and the country will be well served if he becomes president again," said Lindsey, who also made a positive comment about DeSantis.

While Michigan's presidential primary is still eight months away, 25 of the 72 Republican lawmakers in the state Legislature — or 35% — have already endorsed DeSantis for president, according to announcements from Never Back Down, a political committee that's backing the Florida governor.

The endorsements have come from Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, Senate Minority Floor Leader Dan Lauwers, and state Rep. Bryan Posthumus. Posthumus has been among the most vocal backers of DeSantis.

DeSantis can serve a full eight years as president and can usher in the next generation of conservative leadership, Posthumus said. There's a cap on the support that Trump can achieve in the state, while DeSantis doesn't have such a limit, he said.

"I think DeSantis has a much better chance of winning Michigan," Posthumus added in a Thursday interview.

House Republican Leader Matt Hall, a Republican, did not respond to an inquiry about who he is backing in the presidential primary.

Rep. Phil Green is another GOP legislator who has endorsed DeSantis. Asked if he thinks Trump can win Michigan in 2024, Green said the election is a long way away, and he didn't answer directly.

As for DeSantis, Green said, "Come November of next year, I think DeSantis can win."