It would be akin to putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department, or giving the keys to the vault to a bank robber.. width: 250px; 5. Michigan Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo is alleging voting corruption in Detroit. [17], Karamo is a vocal proponent of the theory of the transmission of demonic possession via sexual transmission which can result in child sacrifice through the process of abortion.[18][19]. Karamo was one of several Trump-backed secretary of state candidates vying to serve as top election officials in swing states the former president lost in 2020. .mw-body #mw-content-text th.votebox-results-cell--text { } As an indication of how much heat the race is generating, Karamo has attracted more than 2,000 individual donors more than all candidates combined in the last secretary of state contest in 2018. Photos: Getty Images, The Data-Driven Strategy Behind Democrats State-Level Success in 2022, No, Ron DeSantis Isnt the Second Coming of Ronald Reagan, Why 2022s Big Lesson for Democrats Might Be Nothing, What the Polls Say Today: MAGA Wont Run the 2024 Election, Bad Projection Is Ruining the Movie Theater Experience, Camila Morrone Steps Into Her Own Spotlight. .mw-content-ltr td.votebox-results-cell--text, an attorney for the five poll challenger plaintiffs. DeSantis Promises Florida Will Control Disney Content. The Republican base and its statewide leadership look different than they did six years ago, and the requirements for political success have changed completely. But many, like former community college teacher Kristina Karamo . margin-bottom: 1px; She won by defeating Trump-endorse candidate Matthew Deperno. .mw-body #mw-content-text .votebox .race_header h3.votebox-header-office-name { One thing the last six years has taught me is you never say never, Jeff Timmer, a former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party who has been highly critical of the GOPs new direction, told me this week. The city will see multiple inches of something apparently called snow., Richard Haass on Americas Relationship Problems With China. His involvement in Michigan is quite clearly rooted in a desire to establish a more reliable foundation of support than he had in 2020: Two years ago, the people who voted to certify Bidens victory were members of Trumps own party; the State Senate investigation that found no evidence of widespread fraud was led by the GOP; and the two congressmen from Michigan who supported Trumps impeachment were both Republicans. Her false and extreme rhetoric is a threat to democracy because it undermines faith in our elections, said a spokesperson for the group, Tina Olechowski. .non_result_row th { ", Securing the election is the cornerstone of Karamo's campaign as she says that the state needs to make sure only legal votes are counted, elections are secure, and that "the rule of law is respected again.". The Guardian reached out to Karamo, but she did not respond. This platform and all of its content are owned by . .non_result_row div { .votebox-results-metadata { Karamo, her opponent, was part of a network of election deniers called the America First Secretary of State Coalition. Her most well-known campaign was for Michigan Secretary of State, where she fought to ensure that elections are won by legal votes and to enhance DMV service for all Michigan residents. } $('.hideResponses').show(); } Our voting rights exist in three elements: ballot access, ballot security, and preventing illegal ballots from being cast. CNN Michigan Republicans have chosen Kristina Karamo, who has yet to concede last year's secretary of state race, as their next chair, putting an election denier at the head of the party in a. } .infobox { Karamo pushed 2020 presidential election denial and claimed that former President Donald Trump won . background-color: white;

} background-color: grey; Devin Scillian is equally at home on your television, on your bookshelf, and on your stereo. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it. letter-spacing: 0.03em; } } In October she spoke at a QAnon convention in Las Vegas where she joined other pro-Trump big lie candidates running for secretary of state positions around the country. Additionally, he moderates Flashpoint, Local 4's Sunday morning news program. background-color: #ccc; .panel-heading:hover { cursor: pointer;} position: relative; A perennial fear has been that . color: #888; Barring any changes at an upcoming convention in August, and with Republicans poised to have a strong midterm election year, Karamo has a shot at victory in November. I share to concerns of many citizens that our country is going in the wrong direction. if(document.getElementsByClassName("reference").length==0) if(document.getElementById('Footnotes')!==null) document.getElementById('Footnotes').parentNode.style.display = 'none'; What's on my ballot? Right-wing board to clamp down on woke ideology in cartoons. 2. When I was six years old I remember the Gulf War, specifically Desert Storm. Cities | Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. According to a new WDIV/Detroit News poll, Benson has a healthy 14-point lead over Karamo. text-align: center; Chris Thomas, Michigans former director of elections who oversaw the states vote counts for 36 years under both Republican and Democratic administrations, told the Guardian why. Kristina Karamo was a poll challenger at #Detroit's #TCFCenter. float: left; She told the Guardian that the steam that has built up around the race this year is an indication of its high stakes. The problem was that Karamos interpretation of what happened to the wrongly-completed ballot was based on a simple misreading of election procedure. Karamo, a self-described Christian apologist, called politics "just another arena to fight out of the spiritual battle that we are in all the time" during one episode of her podcast. $('.showResponses').on('click', () => { But if many do, it may be because they were swept up in a GOP wave that carried other extreme candidates across the finish line, too. Kristina Karamo catapulted to prominence in conservative circles after claiming she witnessed voter fraud in 2020 The claims have been widely debunked, but Karamo says she has 'major questions' about whether Joe Biden won the 2020 election We fully support and encourage the freedom of the press, however the Detroit Free Press Editorial Board took the unprecedented step of attacking us for a second time because to their shock and amazement Matt DePerno was winning," the campaign said in a statement emailed Monday, before polls had opened or ballot counting had begun. School districts | Karamo's win means that with Lavora . The Free Press was blocked from covering an election night event put on by the Michigan Conservative Coalition Karamo was expected to attend. Click here to take a moment and familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines. At 17, the summer before college I worked as a waitress at a breakfast restaurant. Incumbent Jocelyn Benson is going up against Republican Kristina Karamo. Now shes the Republican candidate for secretary of state. Benson has vigorously defended the administration of the last presidential election and cast her own reelection campaign against Karamo as a battle to uphold American democracy. As CNNs Harry Enten noted, this isnt a good sign for the party that controls the White House: In the midterms when more Americans are dissatisfied than satisfied with the direction of the country, the party that held the White House has lost an average of 33 seats. America First Secretary of State Coalition, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Benson was elected with 53% of the vote in 2018 and is being challenged by Karamo, who was overwhelmingly voted by delegates to represent the Republican Party for the position of secretary of state. overflow-y: hidden; Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world. .survey-result {padding:10px;} [7] She ran for the 10th district of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners in 2018, which covers the city of Pontiac, but lost in the Republican primary. } .key-messages li {margin-bottom: 10px;} padding-bottom: 7px; color: black; Not everyone thinks that Karamo, as secretary of state, would try to sway the election. Last election, Michigans GOP leaders did not bend to Trumps will. He taught to love your fellow man, as you love yourself. Benson is going to link her to Trump every chance she gets, talk about the Big Lie, how she oversaw the safest election in Michigan, David Dulio, a political-science professor at Oakland University, told me. According to a poll taken by the firm EPIC MRA, 47% of likely voters plan to vote for Benson and 37% plan to vote for Karamo. font-size: 12px; That appeal ultimately paid off with Karamo defeating DePerno 58 to 42% on the final ballot. The count was good.. div.oneoff-scrollbox.short { height:250px; overflow:scroll; margin:20px; padding:10px; border:1px solid gray; } One of the responsibilities of Secretary of State is to protect your identity. And what happens in this swing state in 2024 could tip the entire presidential outcome. The right to vote was on the ballot. In Michigan, the Secretary of State's Office also manages branch offices that issue driver's licenses and handle vehicle registrations and tag renewals. width: 350px; And if that happens, Benson said, then democracy will have been dealt perhaps its greatest blow since the origins of our country. .votebox-scroll-container { Some anti-Trump donors and esablishment political leaders have pushed back against this shift in recent weeks. The secretary of state oversees many of Michigan's day-to-day operations including license plates, driver's licenses, and elections - among many other jobs. (Karamo did not respond to multiple requests for comment, nor did her employer.) .widget-value { She is an instructor at Wayne County Community College. onald Trump will return to Michigan on Saturday for his first visit since November 2020 when he spent the final hours of his presidential election campaign desperately trying to hold on to the state and fend off nationwide defeat to his Democratic rival Joe Biden. Benson has maintained that the 2020 election was the most secure in the states history. hat one mistaken claim of fraud propelled Karamo into the dizzy heights of the Trump firmament. Perhaps the best known election-denying secretary of State candidate is Arizonas Mark Finchem, identifiable by his ubiquitous cowboy hat and his efforts to shift the burden of proof on 2020 election results to those who say they werent rigged. One polling indicator that doesnt often get attention is direction of the country, where voters are asked if they think America is moving in the right direction or is instead off on the wrong track. This has tended lately to be a chronically net negative number; the last time there were sizable right direction margins was at the end of the 1990s economic boom and then again in the national unity moment after September 11. However, securing our voting rights are the only mechanism we have to have a say. if (typeof $ != 'undefined') { *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. I think that is being fueled right now by the fact that the Republican challenger just doesnt have any name ID out there. background-color: #f9f9f9; This survey was commissioned by WDIV Local 4 News and the Detroit News. Kristina Karamo earned an associate degree from Macomb County Community College in 2006. .race_header { When she complained and called for a supervisor, she claims she was told not to talk to the election staff. Her office helped implement those changes and drew the ire of Trump and his allies when Benson mailed absentee ballot applications in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. She spotted a ballot on the screen in which a voter appeared to have cast their ballot along straight-party lines but for both main parties. Gallup does a slightly different measurement of this basic indicator, asking respondents if they are satisfied with the ways things are going in the United States. In its last monthly poll, Gallup pegged satisfaction at 17 percent. "It's not a reflection in any way about the lack of security of the system or any actual problems with the elections themselves.". A week after the election, by which time Biden had been declared winner, she filled out an incident report in her neat closely-spaced handwriting. width: 150px; That will build, although its much harder to build that at the secretary of state race level, Richard Czuba said. display: block; .inner_percentage.Democratic { .outer_percentage { border-bottom: 1px solid grey; He expects that as attorney general, DePerno would investigate supposed illegal activity in 2020, and Karamo would make sure that no fraud occurs going forward. Kristina was a poll watcher in the 2020 presidential election. } .widget-row.value-only.black { It has been pointed out before that having Bensons name so prominently displayed at secretary of state outlets all over Michigan is a little like running a huge chain of campaign offices. background-color: #6db24f; margin-bottom: -2px !important; } "I am honored to have the opportunity to serve you for another four years," Benson said when she took the stage at a Democratic party at Motor City Casino in Detroit late Tuesday night. The Brutal Layoffs at Twitter Just Keep Coming. . This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Michigans next election chief, in other words, might be one of its foremost election-conspiracy theorists. left: 0px; div.survey-scrollbox { height:400px; overflow:scroll; margin:20px; padding:10px; border:1px solid gray; } More recently, she said that threats and harassment directed at local election officials were made up by her opponent. In the days leading up to the election, Benson blasted a legal bid by Karamo that initially asked a court to declare tens of thousands of Detroit absentee ballots invalid. width: 90%; Several far-right Michigan Republicans endorsed by former President Donald Trump won their statewide primary elections on Tuesday, including Tudor Dixon for governor, Kristina Karamo for secretary of state, and Matthew DePerno for state attorney general. max-width: 600px; } Every person in this room is aware of the corruption in the 2020 election, but we cant just whine and bellyache, she said. A part-time community college professor, Ms. Karamo denied that Joe Biden won Michigan in 2020, though he did so by three points. Kristina Karamo, a former community college instructor who lost her bid last fall to become Michigan's secretary of state by 14 percentage points, won the chair of the Michigan Republican Party a . [4], In 2023 Karamo was elected to lead the state's Republican Party. Biden Dares Republicans to Go After Obamacare and Medicaid. State and local courts | .mw-body #mw-content-text th.votebox-results-cell--text { I said Im challenging the ballot but he continued to tell the worker to push it through.. What is Kristina Karamo Ethnicity? Michigan secretary of state nominee Kristina Karamo blasted Democratic incumbent Jocelyn Benson while citing a discredited movie that claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen using. font-size: 12px; 1 to Trump and other election deniers because of his brazen refusal to overturn Bidens 2020 victory in his state. | .clearfix { } FILE- Kristina Karamo, Republican candidate for Michigan Secretary of State, speaks at a rally at the Michigan Stars Sports Center in Washington Township, Mich., Saturday, April 2, 2022. } Then two of them Rachel Hamm of California and Jody Hice of Georgia lost their primaries. From almost total obscurity, Karamo was thrown into the limelight when she began to cry foul about what she claimed was illegal vote counting in the overwhelmingly African American city of Detroit. The supervisor, she wrote, instructed the poll worker to push it through, when the ballot legally should have been rejected. Kristina Karamo is an American far-right [2] politician and former poll watcher who is serving as the chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party.