Trump extremists spur breakaway conservative party
Some conservatives are breaking away from the Republican Party in Michigan to escape the influence of Donald Trump.
A group of more moderate Republicans is explicitly rejecting Trump-fueled extremism in the state GOP, which has continued to challenge the former president's 2020 election loss and elevate candidates who spread conspiracy theories about that election, reported MLive.
“We’re concerned about the rise of extremism and the attack on free and fair elections,” said Jeff Timmer, a former Michigan Republican Party executive director and outspoken Trump critic.
Timmer, who now works as a political strategist and senior adviser to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, is hoping the Common Sense Party gets the 45,000 valid signatures necessary within a 180-day time limit to be officially recognized on the Michigan ballot by 2024.
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The new party will support candidates who hold a “pro-democracy, pro rule of law, anti-extremist position,” and Timmer wants to restore fusion voting in the state to help the Common Sense Party , which would allow multiple parties to nominate the same candidate and poll votes for them.
“If the ban on fusion voting in Michigan were to be overturned or removed,” Timmer said, “we would only nominate candidates who are also already nominated by either the Democrats or Republicans.”