OTTAWA COUNTY — The 2024 election cycle is beginning to feel eerily familiar to some local Republicans after the Ottawa County GOP voted to “denounce and condemn” conservative candidates who are not toeing the party line.

“The Ottawa County Republican Party Executive Committee denounces and condemns Conservative Ottawa PAC as opposition to the Republican Party … and demands that all endorsed candidates, members and affiliates immediately cease to run for office as Republicans,” according to a resolution posted on the party’s website on June 25.

The move is reminiscent of the county commissioner races in 2022 when the county party voted to censure six of the 10 then-Republican incumbents on the board seeking re-election for allegedly “publicly embracing Democrat interference in the Republican primary” and for erroneously claiming the commissioners were “endorsed by two political groups with apparent ties to George Soros,” a billionaire who is one of the largest donors to progressive groups, causes and candidates in the world.

The censure ultimately aided candidates aligned with Ottawa Impact, then a fledgling far-right fundamentalist group created in 2021, to defeat all but one of nine Republican incumbents in the August 2022 primary.

Read more: Is Ottawa County's Republican Party becoming more far right?

Read more: Amid in-fighting, censures: What is the future for Ottawa County conservatism?

In a response to the 2022 GOP censure, all six incumbent commissioners said the move was to pander to the far-right segment of the party.

“As long-standing members of the Republican Party, we support the values and policies which have made Ottawa County strong,” the six then-commissioners said in a prepared statement. “We are disappointed that a small, vocal minority has infiltrated the Ottawa County GOP to serve its own narrow political agenda rather than address Ottawa County as a whole and serve everybody.”

This year, OI commissioners and countywide candidates are running against traditional conservatives and the divisions seen in summer 2022 have resurfaced and only deepened within the local Republican Party.

How we got here

In a county that has historically been conservative since its founding in 1831, Republicans have long had a commanding presence in West Michigan politics.

“This county has a tradition of being conservative. But it is not a county that has a tradition of being outrageous,” John “Field” Reichardt, a Grand Haven resident and well-known local politico, told this reporter in a 2022 interview.

Ottawa County conservatives developed a reputation as a party that promoted limited government and fiscal responsibility, often citing Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan as forefathers of their guiding principles.

But the rise of Donald Trump in 2016 brought far-right ideology to local politics, exacerbated in 2019 by a global pandemic that resulted in divisive statewide shutdowns and mask mandates.

And with that came a new local group called Ottawa Impact, claiming to defend “the constitutionally protected rights of parents to make health and education decisions for their own children,” according to the group’s website.

The group was founded by self-described “parental rights advocates” Joe Moss and Sylvia Rhodea, who took issue with pre-K-6 school mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in the temporary closure of the private Christian school Moss founded and where his children attended.

Now Moss and Rhodea are the chair and vice chair, respectively, on the county board of commissioners and have championed several controversial decisions that have resulted in five lawsuits against the board in a 14-month timeframe, four of which remain active to date.

Meanwhile, most of the long-known Republicans within the party were forced out or voluntarily left as the local GOP skewed farther right.

Ottawa Impact’s influence on the local GOP

As Ottawa Impact candidates campaigned in summer 2022, the county party also reflected a sea change, beginning with two party chairs being forced out within a six-month span and a failed December convention that led to a lawsuit from within the party.

Rett DeBoer, who chaired the party at the beginning of 2022 stepped down in May amid speculation that her decision was due to pressure from Ottawa Impact and its members.

At the time, DeBoer denied the rumor to the Grand Haven Tribune, saying she stepped away because of internal issues happening within the party. She declined to comment further.

Then new chair Keith den Hollander was ousted in December in favor of Joel Studebaker, however, it took a lawsuit from three Republican precinct delegates to finalize the change in leadership after a judge ruled that the party violated its own rules and needed to redo its annual convention.

An attorney representing the delegates said it was Studebaker who made the decision to violate the party’s own bylaws.

The judge ruled that the “Studebaker group did not get elected because they didn’t follow the bylaws and chose to come up with their own rules. So, the executive committee is the old executive committee. ... If you don’t have a meeting that complies with your bylaws, the meeting doesn’t count,” said Jon Lauderbach, the attorney who represented the plaintiffs.

Ultimately, Studebaker was selected in January 2023 — again — but he didn’t remain in the role for long.

The next month, Moss nominated Republican firebrand Kristina Karamo, who lost her bid against Democrat Jocelyn Benson in the 2022 secretary of state race, to lead the state Republican Party.

During a tumultuous MIGOP convention that saw several rounds of voting, Karamo eventually won and tapped Studebaker to become her chief of staff.

“That was not an easy discussion or decision,” Studebaker said after accepting the role with Karamo. “But it comes down to where I believe, personally, that God is calling me.”

The move, however, led to the search for the county party’s third chair in less than a year.

Read more: Ottawa County GOP elects new chair after Studebaker exit

Read more: Ottawa Impact Commissioner Lucy Ebel appeals approval of recall language

Studebaker suggested Brendan Muir, a recent transplant from Wayne County, to succeed him as chair. After getting the job, Muir quickly jumped into the local political scene, making several appearances for then-OI county commissioner Lucy Ebel as she faced a recall effort that ultimately led to her removal from office in May 2024.

Currently, Muir is the OI-endorsed candidate challenging longtime Republican Congressman Bill Huizenga in the Aug. 6 primary to represent West Michigan’s Fourth District.

Meanwhile, Karamo’s tenure only lasted at the statewide level for 11 months before she was voted out, sparking another court battle that resulted in a judge ruling that former West Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra was properly selected in January to lead the MIGOP.

The Ottawa GOP has not officially recognized Hoekstra as the state party’s leader, which is telling to many non-OI Republicans.

“The current Ottawa County party does not even recognize Pete Hoekstra as the Michigan Republican chairman,” Reichardt said. “They still recognize Kristina Karamo, who everybody knows was out in beyond far-right field, and that's where these folks are.”

As the party aligned more with Ottawa Impact, however, displaced and frustrated non-OI conservatives started forming groups of their own.

Conservative Ottawa forms, backs candidates

Longtime Ottawa County conservative activist Kurt Van Koevering, said the new OI-led board of commissioners and GOP brought “chaos” to a historically well-respected county.

“For the past year, we have seen our Ottawa County Commission in chaos as they face numerous lawsuits, low employee morale and a large number of those employees seeking employment elsewhere,” Van Koevering said in a statement after forming Conservative Ottawa in 2023.

“The Ottawa County Republican Party is not in much better shape as it is controlled by election deniers and individuals who find it their purpose to challenge and harass our excellent elected leaders.”

The owner and publisher of the Zeeland Record newspaper said he helped to form the entity in order to restore stability to the county.

“The chaos has led to uncertainty for the direction of the county and has raised concerns,” said Van Koevering, who also is a current Ottawa County road commissioner. “There are also concerns this could affect attracting new businesses along with potential employees to our county due to the volatile political environment.”

Part of the Conservative Ottawa effort was to back traditional conservative candidates for commissioners and other countywide offices, including Jim Barry, Huizenga’s brother, and Jordan Jorritsma, one of the county delegates who sued the party in December 2022 (both are running for county commissioner seats).

That seemingly drew the attention of the Ottawa GOP, which on May 16, announced its candidate endorsements for several county, state and U.S. offices, bucking decades of tradition where parties traditionally have waited until after the primary election.

“This year, in the face of severe Democrat attacks on our county, our party has taken a proactive stance to ensure that our voice is heard loud and clear. ... It is imperative that we elect conservative leaders who will champion traditional values and protect our constitutional freedoms,” the Ottawa County GOP announced on its website.

Van Koevering said it was a wide departure from what county politics used to be.

“It was a long-standing practice that the party didn’t endorse in the primary as part of ‘big tent’ policy. It was a desire that every candidate had a fair opportunity to compete in the primary, and then unite as an organization in the general election,” he said. “They've taken over the party, and they claim that these Republicans are not Ottawa Impact, but you look at their endorsements, they're totally Impact.”

Van Koevering said it’s more about loyalty to Ottawa Impact and candidates’ willingness to “kiss the ring.”

The county GOP and Ottawa Impact have never responded to this reporter’s request for comment.

Van Koevering said the fact that Huizenga, a seven-term U.S. congressman, received only a handful of votes cast from his own home county underscores his view; Muir received almost all of the nearly 190 votes.

“I don't think this is the party. This is a group of individuals who have taken over the mantra of the Ottawa Republican Party, but they're not acting on behalf of the party,” he said earlier this month. “They are doing their own thing because you have a lot of Republicans outside that are opposing them, which is something that's never happened before.”

Van Koevering also pointed to the fact that the Ottawa GOP is still backing Ebel, instead of Jorritsma, after she lost the recall election in May to Democrat Chris Kleinjans by a 20% margin.

“To me, that’s saying they’re not listening to the voters,” Van Koevering said. “They are just focusing on their agenda and their agenda only.”

Several local candidates seeking countywide office denounced the GOP endorsement convention, saying they weren’t even interviewed before the vote.

“I have never received a questionnaire, nor have I been interviewed by any member for vetting,” said Undersheriff Eric DeBoer, who is running for sheriff. “Historically, the party has stayed out of primary races. It has been up to the voters in the primary to choose their candidate. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be what the Ottawa GOP is about anymore. Instead, it is about consolidating power into the hands of a few.”

In June, Conservative Ottawa announced its own endorsements, in an effort to communicate with voters that there were clear divisions between what the current county party is and what it could be again.

Read more: Ottawa County conservative groups offer dueling endorsements before the Aug. 6 GOP primary

Reichardt said he supports what Conservative Ottawa is trying to do.

“The Conservative Ottawa group, and I know many of the people in it, are what the Republican Party of Ottawa County has been: a somewhat solid, somewhat boring, highly effective organization that has elected Republicans that have really run this county,” he said.

“Even though I disagree with many of the people in Conservative Ottawa, because I'm an old-fashioned moderate Republican, I still respect their integrity and their commitment to bringing this county back to an even keel.”

The alternative endorsements, however, drew the official party’s ire.

Condemnations and censures

The Ottawa GOP approved a resolution in June to “denounce and condemn” Conservative Ottawa’s decision to back alternative conservative candidates for the primary, following the official party’s lead.

The reason given: Conservative Ottawa was working across the aisle with local progressives.

“The entity referring to itself as ‘Conservative Ottawa PAC’ formed in May 2023 is running candidates for county positions as Republicans who are soliciting Democrat help in order to defeat Republican competition in the August 2024 primary,” the county GOP said in the June 25 resolution.

They pointed to Republican Commissioner Roger Bergman’s comments at a fundraising event saying traditional conservatives would “need Democrats” if they wanted to defeat OI-backed candidates this election cycle.

“Any organization or group working against the strongest, most conservative Republican candidates is working to weaken the party in Ottawa County which ultimately hurts the citizens of Ottawa County,” the party said in the resolution.

Of note, Bergman is not seeking re-election and was not among the “condemned and denounced” Republicans listed by the county party.

A non-OI Republican seeking Bergman’s seat, however, is on the “condemned” list.

“I believe that the majority of voters are tired of partisan politics and simply want their county government to run quietly, efficiently and without sensational proclamations and headlines,” said Josh Brugger, who is running for the District 10 seat currently represented by Bergman.

“I for one am looking forward to working on behalf of all residents of Ottawa County, regardless of their political affiliation. I am a Republican but I am not running for a party, I am running for the people of Northwest Ottawa County,” he said.

Also on the “condemned” list by the county party are:

• Jim Barry, Huizenga’s brother who is running for District 1 commissioner against OI Commissioner Gretchen Cosby in the primary.
• Jacob Bonnema, running for re-election as the District 4 commissioner. A former member of OI, Bonnema publicly split from the group in March 2023, citing differing views in governance, transparency and policy.
• DeBoer, who was appointed as the Ottawa County undersheriff after Valerie Weiss retired in February this year and current Sheriff Steve Kemper announced he would not seek re-election. DeBoer faces OI-endorsed Jon Anderson, a former Riverside County, Calif., sheriff’s department commander who co-owns Bullet Hole Firearms and Training in Holland. Moss and Rhodea championed Anderson being appointed as the interim Ottawa County administrator in March, despite the fact he was seeking a separate elected office.
• Shawn Haff, running for the District 6 seat on the board of commissioners. He will face OI-backed Commissioner Kendra Wenzel, who was appointed to the position after former commissioner Kyle Terpstra resigned suddenly in November.
• Jorritsma, running as the non-OI Republican candidate in District 2 for the county board of commissioners seat. Ebel is running as the OI-backed candidate and Kleinjans is running as a Democrat in the general to defend the seat.
• Phil Kuyers, the only Republican that lost in 2022 who is seeking a rematch. He will face OI Commissioner Roger Belknap in August.
• Sarah Matwiejczyk, running for the county prosecutor spot after current Prosecutor Lee Fisher, a Republican, announced he would not be seeking another term.
• Mark Northrup, the current mayor of Hudsonville, running as the non-OI candidate against Moss in the county commission’s District 5 in the primary.
• John Teeples, running as the non-OI candidate in District 7 after current Republican Commissioner Rebekah Curran opted to not seek a second term. Teeples will face OI-endorsed Republican Rachel Atwood on Aug. 6.
• Richard Van Dop, running as one of two non-OI Republicans in District 11 for a county commission seat. Although the county GOP endorsed OI Commissioner Allison Miedema for re-election, it did not list fellow non-OI Republican Sara Bajama on the “condemned” list.

Candidates respond

Kuyers and Bonnema are in the unique position to have been censured by the party previously: Kuyers in 2022 as one of the six then-incumbents running against the freshman OI candidates and Bonnema who was censured by the party and the OI majority on the county board after he publicly clashed with Moss and former administrator John Gibbs.

“As a lifelong Republican, witnessing the current state of the county Republican Party is disheartening. The recent changes have brought in new individuals with extreme views, where reason is viewed as treason,” Bonnema said in a June 27 Facebook post, shortly after the condemnation resolution was passed.

“The Ottawa County Republican Party underwent a takeover by Ottawa Impact in early 2023, leading to a shift towards extreme ideologies that exclude longtime Republicans like myself and MANY others,” he said, saying the resolution was “a desperate attempt to malign those that won’t put up with the parties (sic) foolishness and bully tactics. Real Republicans should publicly condemn this extreme resolution and the extreme people behind it.”

In a brief interview earlier this month, Bonnema said it was important to note that “Ottawa Impact has taken over that party and the people they expelled were real Republicans.”

Kuyers said the county GOP’s “condemnation” was an attempt to distract voters from what is happening in the Republican Party.

“When I’m knocking on doors, strong Republicans know everything that’s going on with the GOP and how they manipulated it to just have their people as conservative Republicans, which is not right.”

Van Koevering said the “condemnation and denouncement” resolution was nothing more than a move driven by desperation.

“To me, they’re being desperate. They are realizing that this campaign is slipping away from them, and their only way to win is to try to drag people down or organizations down,” he said.

“Two years ago, they just had the county commissioners as a target. Now they’re the target, and they’ve got Conservative Ottawa firing arrows. They’ve got candidates firing arrows. They’ve got Ottawa Objects. … You know, originally they called us (Republicans In Name Only), and they found out that didn't hurt us. So now they’re trying to step it up by calling us Democrats. And that didn’t work, so now they’re trying to censure us, and that doesn’t work.”

Van Koevering said if the official county party isn’t willing to play by the rules, perhaps the OI candidates should bow out.

“They tell us that we ought to drop out of the race … that should have been something you did back before the filing deadline. To me, that's why we just laugh at it. Why don’t you just drop out? Save everybody money?”

Reichardt said it’s obvious who is the more extreme arm of the party and what that means.

“The people who are attacking Conservative Ottawa are extremists that are concerned that their extremism is being pointed out by traditional members of the Republican Party,” he said.

Most of the non-OI candidates, however, said they weren’t phased by not receiving the formal party endorsement.

“You know what? I've been censured before. I'm still the strong conservative Republican I’ve always been, and I give services to everybody who needs it,” Kuyers said earlier this month. “The only reason they're doing this is because that's how they work.

Matwiejczyk echoed that sentiment.

“I feel supported by the Republican Party and feel very secure by my support within the Republican Party. Conservative Ottawa is a great group of people that have been Republicans for decade after decade,” she said.

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She summed up her feelings on the lack of formal GOP support succinctly: “The Ottawa County GOP is a different facet, and they’re further in a realm that I don’t identify with … so I was not seeking their endorsement.

“That’s not my party,” she said.

— Contact Sarah Leach at SentinelLeach@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach. Subscribe to her content at sentinelleach.substack.com.