DETROIT — Two former chairmen of the Michigan Republican Party are throwing their support behind the effort to make the state one of the earliest to cast ballots in the presidential primary calendar.
Republicans Saul Anuzis and Rusty Hills sent a joint letter Monday to the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which is weighing applications from Michigan and 16 other state parties competing for one of the coveted five early spots in 2024.
Anuzis and Hills in the letter said the battleground state best represents the country's demographic and economic diversity that both Republicans and Democrats work to "persuade and turn out" at election time.
It's also accessible and a more affordable state to run a campaign in, compared with contenders like Illinois, which is dominated by a single, pricey media market that's "untouchable" for some candidates.
They called Michigan a "uniquely versatile laboratory" for campaigns aiming to compete nationally, with candidates able to find "every type of voter, in every type of community," from conservatives to progressives, suburban to urban to rural.
"Simply put, Michigan is America, and America is Michigan. It is the best place for candidates of any political stripe to sharpen their campaigns, talk to voters from both sides of the aisle, and ensure the American people can hear a robust, respectful debate," Anuzis and Hills wrote.
Michigan Democrats are set to deliver their pitch Thursday in a presentation to national party leaders on the DNC panel, which is supposed to recommend a reshuffled early-state lineup to the full DNC in early August.
Led by Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing and Rep. Debbie Dingell of Dearborn, the Michigan coalition is aiming to make the case that the Great Lakes State is more diverse and reflective of the country at large than Iowa and New Hampshire, which have led off the presidential nominating calendar for decades.
Hills said it makes more sense to lead the primary calendar with bellwether, battleground states, rather than small states with narrow issues like ethanol at play.
"And I think Michigan is the ideal battleground state because Michigan picks presidents — because if you can win Michigan, you can win nationally," said Hills, who chaired the Michigan GOP from 2000-03 and is now a lecturer at the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
"The last two elections would prove that the candidate who won Michigan became president of the United States."
Hills said the biggest challenge for Michigan in the DNC's process is inertia: "People who are satisfied with the status quo. I think that’s the biggest impediment to making a change that I think, frankly, is long overdue."
The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee has said it wants no more than five states to schedule their primaries or caucuses before the first Tuesday in March, the traditional date for "Super Tuesday" in the presidential primaries when multiple states hold primaries.
Michigan's 2020 primary took place March 10, about five weeks after Iowa's caucuses and four weeks after New Hampshire's primary — and a week after Super Tuesday.
"My whole argument is that it’s good for Michigan.... The idea that you can bring national leadership into your state to learn about your issues, to learn about what you do, is a big deal," Anuzis said.
"And presidents now are becoming more and more powerful as every election cycle goes by, and so having having those kinds of relationships and IOUs out there and abilities is good for us."
Among the criteria that the DNC panel has signaled it is looking at are diversity, union representation, competitiveness in the general election and the feasibility of moving the state's primary into the early window.
Both Anuzis and Hills suggested that a deal could be struck between the GOP-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — a DNC vice chair — to pass a bill to set a new primary date for 2024. They said both parties have an interest in being "as politically relevant as possible."
Anuzis noted that Michigan has traditionally had an early date for municipal elections, and holding the presidential primary earlier wouldn't be a unique event for the state.
Indeed, when Anuzis was chair of Michigan GOP, Democrats and Republicans in the state together moved their 2008 presidential primaries to Jan. 15. But there was a backlash from the national parties, with Democratic leaders initially stripping Michigan of its delegates before later restoring their voting power.
Anuzis said the move also cost Michigan Republicans half of their delegates, and at one point the RNC planned to refuse to seat them on the convention floor, though the sitution got worked out.
"We were a little different in that we went against the rules," Anuzis said, while arguing the move was worthwhile because of the candidates who came to town and got to know the political leadership.
"Even though we had lost half the delegates, it made a big difference in in Michigan being a relevant player and getting a lot of national attention, as well as, essentially, the presidential candidates' attention."
The Republican National Committee, chaired by Michigan's Ronna Romney McDaniel, in April voted to retain the first four states in its 2024 presidential primary as Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
Anuzis said the Michigan GOP's state committee will ultimately decide whether to hold a caucus, convention, stick with the primary schedule or consider going "early" with the Democrats in 2024. If they go outside the window they've been allocated, there could be a "pretty steep price to pay," Anuzis said.
"There's no talk about doing that right now," he said. "I don't expect the Republicans necessarily to consider going with the Democrats, but it really doesn't have any effect on one party or the other because each party gets to choose their own their own process, their own dates, and their own rules based on what the national rules are."
Hills said the RNC's rules for 2024 are "not set in stone" and could always change.
"Obviously there’s more of a push on the Democrat side of the aisle to change up the presidential primary process. But Chairman (RWeiser is a powerful figure in his own right. And the head of the RNC, Ronna McDaniel, hails from Michigan," Hills said.
"I think there's a powerful case to be made that we want the best possible process for our nominee to go up in the next November presidential election. So I would hope that Republicans would take a second look at this."
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