Photo: Eric Seals ~ USA TODAY NETWORK
CLARE, MICHIGAN July 11, 2023 ~ Tensions were high at a Michigan GOP meeting, leading to the party’s second physical altercation at the same hotel this year.
A Michigan Republican Party meeting turned ugly Saturday at the Doherty Hotel in Clare when an activist kicked a GOP official “in the balls.” The incident resulted in a hospital visit for one party official and the suspension of an activist from a local GOP party’s activities.
The alleged attacker, Wayne County Republican James Chapman, arrived at the meeting organized by Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo. The closed meeting regarded issues other state Republicans have with her leadership and her perceived lack of transparency over party spending, said Detroit News politics reporter Craig Mauger to 760 WJR‘s Paul W. Smith.
However, only members of the party’s state committee could enter, creating “turmoil” with Chapman and others outside the meeting, Mauger said. Chapman tried listening to the meeting through the door, recited the Pledge of Allegiance in the lobby, and wiggled the doorknob to the meeting room for several minutes.
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July 11, 2023 ~ Detroit News state politics reporter Craig Mauger talks to Paul W. about a fight that broke out during a recent Michigan GOP State Committee meeting.
(CONTINUED) Clare County Republican Party Chair Mark DeYoung noticed this rattling, and approached the door thinking it was a hotel staffer, Mauger said. DeYoung then saw an extended middle finger through the door’s window before he opened it.
DeYoung said Chapman immediately kicked him in the groin, before allegedly charging DeYoung and slamming him into a chair.
The county GOP leader was taken to the hospital with a broken rib and tooth following the altercation, and told the Detroit News that the party is “divided” from the hospital.
Mauger said he has not heard Karamo respond to the incident, but was told about a discussion over what transpired at the meeting.
“During a Q&A after the meeting, and I am told (this) by multiple people in the room, that one of the questions asked was, ‘How do we spin this fight?’” Mauger said to Smith.
Mauger added that Chapman said he was acting in self-defense, claiming DeYoung was threatening him when he opened the door.
In April, the Doherty Hotel saw another GOP scuffle a day before a state Republican leadership meeting. Two GOP officials traded strikes on video over opposing support for Karamo and former state attorney general candidate Matthew DePerno, who were both vying to be the party’s chairperson.
The party has been divided over direction and funding following its defeats in the 2022 Midterms, where State Democrats won full control of the government for the first time in over four decades.
This was not Chapman’s first political altercation either, having previously been involved in a skirmish at a 2020 protest against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 policies. The Wayne 6th Congressional District Republican Committee voted unanimously to suspend Chapman from the party following the altercation.
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