Republicans gather in Mackinaw City with message of unity ahead of 2026 battleground
MACKINAW CITY – Hopped up on a series of fresh wins and with their man in the White House, Michigan Republicans on Saturday said they need to hold it together over the next year if they want to achieve a full sweep of key offices in 2026.
With momentum at their backs, it appeared that nothing less would satisfy the nearly 150 donors and elected officials who met to dine at Audie's Restaurant in Mackinaw City for the Straits Area Lincoln Day Dinner. The guest list included two members of the state's congressional delegation – one who may very well seek the open U.S. Senate seat – the Michigan Legislature and many more local officials.
Two GOP candidates for governor – former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and current Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) – were also in attendance, who stumped before the crowd with speeches heavy on potential policy for the state.
Michiganders in 2026 will not only select a replacement for retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, but also a new governor, secretary of state and attorney general. Control of the Michigan Senate is also up for grabs, with Republicans hoping the wind in their sails from President Donald Trump's 2024 victory will help them win back control of the entire state Legislature after Democrats swept races in 2022.
Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) said that fight is starting early and that he hoped his colleagues understood the measure of the moment. Looking out on the packed banquet hall in the back of Audie's Restaurant, Damoose said the energy was palpable.
'It made me think back to the dark days after 2020, where we just felt kicked in the teeth and we broke up and went into different corners, and we fought amongst ourselves,' Damoose said. 'We were downtrodden and we didn't really have a clear path forward. We were worried that the election wasn't fair.'
Damoose said he then thought of his son, who was in high school at the time, and that if he had come home with a poor test score, he likely would have all kinds of excuses about why he failed that test.
'Even if that were true, I would tell him that I didn't care about that. I want to know what you are going to do to do better next time,' Damoose said.
That parable was also indicative of what the kind of soul searching Republicans need to do heading into 2026.
'It hurt us to sit and fight. We saw the results of that in 2022, but we did a little better last year,' Damoose said. 'We want the same good things, but the bottom line is, if anybody's out there wondering whether we're divided, look at this [room] and look at the list of people who are here today, ready to win in 2026.'
A family sometimes gets into arguments, but the bottom line is that they love each other, Damoose added. He also spoke highly of Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake), chair of the Michigan Republican Party, whom Damoose said was committed to bringing them back together.
Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) said there will be challenging races for the MIGOP in the Upper Peninsula and it would take a lot of support to get across the finish line. The big prize, however, would be the top three executive offices, all currently held by Democrats. In a jab at Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson – the latter of whom is running for governor in 2026 – McBroom said it wouldn't take much to have candidates better than what Michigan has.
U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet), who attended the event along with headlining speaker U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland), said Trump not being on the ballot means Republicans must focus on voter turnout. If they don't get the turnout equation right in 2026, Republicans could lose the U.S. House, and that would render the last years of Trump's presidency dead in the water.
'The Democrats will veto the Trump agenda, with all the impeachment and stuff that they will choose to do,' Bergman said before adding that he doesn't believe Democrats have a handle on their own platform. 'Who's your party leader? What's your party platform? What is your plan? When you don't have [all three], you're getting what you're getting.'
Several protesters greeted Bergman with signs and chants as they walked along the sidewalk outside Audie's Restaurant.
Undeterred, Bergman said that aside from holding the U.S. House, getting back control of Lansing in the Legislature and the executive branch should be donors and activists' main priority.
The state House fell back into Republican control last year mostly due to Trump's resurgence and a plan executed by Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township). That has already had consequences for the Democrats who controlled both chambers last session as Republicans seek to roll back their legislative agenda and trim the budget with an ethos similar to that of DOGE, the Trump administration effort that has sought to slash, if not eliminate outright, the budgets of federal agencies and departments.
Although the Democratic-controlled Michigan Senate has put forward its 2025 fiscal year budget, the state House has been slowwalking theirs, with members of the House Appropriations Committee noting how they're going through it with a fine-toothed comb every chance they can in statements or press conferences.
Case in point: When speaking to the crowd on Saturday, Rep. John Roth (R-Interlochen) talked about his work thus far on appropriations, and said he had 10 items that he 'killed immediately' when he took over his budget.
'One was the water affordability bill that nobody could tell me why there was money in there for anything,' Roth said. 'So, $10 million, gone. We're having a lot of fun with that.'
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