In response, Michigan Republican Party chair Kristina Karamo has launched a lawsuit on behalf of the party against both Comerica Bank and the Michigan Republican Party Trust — an entity made up of former state Republican Party chairs that manages the Michigan GOP headquarters building in Lansing — in an effort to regain control of the building and sell it to pay off debt. This all comes as the Mitten State is set to hold its presidential primary in late February.

Karamo, who recently survived a vote by a faction of disgruntled GOP leaders to oust her from her position, has been facing increasing pressure to up her fundraising efforts and restore the state GOP's infrastructure ahead of a pivotal presidential election. In advance of the vote to remove her, Karamo said the effort was "illegal" and that Republicans who wanted her gone were "evil." Karamo — a 2020 election denier who lost her own race for Secretary of State in 2022 — was elected chair in February of 2023, and she blames the party's debt burden on a financial mess she inherited from her predecessor.

The embattled Michigan GOP chair had a chance to prove her detractors wrong by bringing in a big fundraising haul with the most recent Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, which typically features speeches by major Republican Party figures and is attended by well-heeled GOP donors. However, the 2023 conference was effectively a wash, as the only GOP presidential candidate to attend was Vivek Ramaswamy. Actor and Qanon conspiracy theorist Jim Caviezel was paid more than $100,000 to deliver a 25-minute keynote speech.

Michigan remains one of the must-win swing states for both parties, as its 16 electoral votes (15 in 2024) have helped decide the Electoral College majority in the last two presidential elections. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 with 50.6 percent of the vote, and then-candidate Donald Trump won the state in 2016 with just 47.5 percent of the vote to Hillary Clinton's 47.3 percent.