Matt DePerno has earned the endorsement of the Michigan Republican Party to take on incumbent Democrat Dana Nessel in November.
DePerno beat Tom Leonard in the second round of voting with 54% of the vote. Candidate Ryan Berman was eliminated in the first round.
President Donald Trump endorsed DePerno, going as far as hosting a rally for him in Michigan earlier this spring.
“He is really tough. And that’s just what you need,” Trump said. “He is a killer. We need a killer. And he’s a killer in honesty. He’s an honest, hard-working guy who is feared up here.”
Trump has called Leonard a “RINO” who’s “not going to do a damn thing.”
Berman is a state representative, DePerno is a constitutional lawyer and Leonard was the former Michigan speaker of the House and current partner in the Plunkett Cooney law firm.
DePerno had the most votes after the first round of voting, with about 49%. Leonard had roughly 40%, Berman had 10%. A candidate needs 50%, otherwise the voting goes to a second ballot with the top two vote getters.
With Berman eliminated, he sent messages to his supporters endorsing Leonard, per multiple media reports. Leonard needed nearly all of Berman’s voters to top DePerno – or hope DePerno delegates went home, and the alternates voted in his favor.
Berman walked around the floor alongside Leonard, pleading with people to vote for Leonard. He said Leonard is the Republicans’ only shot to beat Nessel in a few heated conversations with delegates.
“Matt DePerno has skeletons on his skeleton,” Berman told delegates.” (The Democrats) are going to eat him alive.”
DePerno supporters lined up chanting “Let’s go DePerno” and clapping thundersticks around the convention space in between the first and second rounds of voting.
Kristina Karamo won the endorsement for Secretary of State in the first round of voting, with 67% of the votes. During a short acceptance speech, she told her supporters to vote for DePerno in the second round of attorney general voting – prompting an eruption of cheers and boos from the crowd.
Voting was halted during the second round of voting for a discrepancy in the ballot process. Races and candidates were listed on giant screens in the convention hall, but were ordered differently from what was on the paper ballots.
The paper ballots clearly listed the names for each race, according to a ballot screenshot obtained by MLive. Voting resumed about half an hour later and the screens were updated to show the correct order.
“We don’t believe there’s any actual votes affected,” said Gustavo Portela, Michigan Republican Party spokesperson.
What’s next?
Saturday’s event was considered an “endorsement convention,” which is different from August’s “nominating convention.”
State law requires the nomination to happen in August, but state Democrats thought up the idea of a spring endorsement convention a few cycles ago to give their top candidates a head start and end the party infighting earlier in the election season.
Michigan Republicans are doing an endorsement convention this year for the first time.
The candidates they endorse aren’t guaranteed a spot in the November primary, however – party rules say a 75% vote in the August convention can overturn their earlier picks.
State law has parties select their own candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and a handful of other races. Meanwhile, the governor, Congress and Legislature races are all narrowed down via an August primary election.
Republicans have 10 candidates vying for the chance to run against incumbent Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.
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