The 2024 election cycle is feeling 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 old GOP no longer exists. It's MAGA now, and OI is right wing MAGA. I am a former Republican and former Ottawa County Commissioner. I will be voting in the GOP primary to stop OI candidates, but I will be voting straight Democrat in November. It's the only way to stop the kind of revenge oriented, incompetent, and law breaking governing happening in Ottawa County and elsewhere. The GOP and OI are all about loyalty to individuals, and nothing about good government. They hire people based on that loyalty, without regard to qualifications. They knowingly and willingly break the law, understanding that it will take the courts years to catch up to them and that the only consequences will be fines or settlements paid by the taxpayers. We need to stop OI now, or it will be 4 long years before we have another chance.
"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."
It is unimaginable to me as a longtime Ottawa County resident that any Ottawa County Republicans would endorse a highly unqualified candidate to represent the WM Fourth District instead of Congressman Bill Huizenga. I grieve for Congressman Huizenga. I deeply respect you Robert for your decision to vote Democratic, though I am sure it has not been an easy one to make.
Trump and OI have made it pretty easy. I never voted for Trump, but in 2016 I still voted mostly for Republicans. But after Trump tried to stay in office after he lost and did nothing to stop the attack on the Capitol, I could not vote for anyone who supported him. And by the 2022 election almost every GOP candidate supported Trump. And now they support him even more despite the fact he is now a convicted felon. I would love to be able to vote for a party in the middle, but we have only 2 viable choices and that makes it easy.
I am an Independent voter, and have typically leaned to the Right. If OI makes it past the primaries, I (and I know of many others) will be a straight ticket Democrat in the general election. There is absolutely NO WAY I want the Ottawa County BOC to be infiltrated with OI. If they are truly endorsed as Republican / GOP, I will not be Republican / GOP.
I cooperated with Kurt Van Koevering around a campaign for Alvin Hoekman in 1990, before I was abandoned in that race when the Second District Party Chair Glenn Hop tried to create a revolt and a Bill Van Regenmorter campaign for Congress. The candidate for which the revolt was staged balked over personal issues, gifting America with Congressman Pete Hoekstra when he filled the suddenly open seat instead. What a grandiose mistake that was.
Going to that Republican Party County Convention started my turn to the left. I am an Elizabeth Warren Democrat and the founder of the Ottawa Objects Facebook group now. Thanks for the shout out Kurt, it’s nice to be on the same side again, however briefly. At least I know your candidates have the scruples to work for everyone and to have no contracts with anyone but their voters. I also suspect most of your county level candidates likely would be non-partisan if they could be.
Keep up the fight and I promise an honorable campaign when we return to normal blue versus normal red, if we manage to put the OI and MAGA who are so far beyond Republican out of our collective misery first. Maybe you’ll even join me in making local politics non-partisan and we can test how conservative this county really is, if you dare.
The old GOP no longer exists. It's MAGA now, and OI is right wing MAGA. I am a former Republican and former Ottawa County Commissioner. I will be voting in the GOP primary to stop OI candidates, but I will be voting straight Democrat in November. It's the only way to stop the kind of revenge oriented, incompetent, and law breaking governing happening in Ottawa County and elsewhere. The GOP and OI are all about loyalty to individuals, and nothing about good government. They hire people based on that loyalty, without regard to qualifications. They knowingly and willingly break the law, understanding that it will take the courts years to catch up to them and that the only consequences will be fines or settlements paid by the taxpayers. We need to stop OI now, or it will be 4 long years before we have another chance.
"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."
It is unimaginable to me as a longtime Ottawa County resident that any Ottawa County Republicans would endorse a highly unqualified candidate to represent the WM Fourth District instead of Congressman Bill Huizenga. I grieve for Congressman Huizenga. I deeply respect you Robert for your decision to vote Democratic, though I am sure it has not been an easy one to make.
Trump and OI have made it pretty easy. I never voted for Trump, but in 2016 I still voted mostly for Republicans. But after Trump tried to stay in office after he lost and did nothing to stop the attack on the Capitol, I could not vote for anyone who supported him. And by the 2022 election almost every GOP candidate supported Trump. And now they support him even more despite the fact he is now a convicted felon. I would love to be able to vote for a party in the middle, but we have only 2 viable choices and that makes it easy.
Absolutely agree!
I am an Independent voter, and have typically leaned to the Right. If OI makes it past the primaries, I (and I know of many others) will be a straight ticket Democrat in the general election. There is absolutely NO WAY I want the Ottawa County BOC to be infiltrated with OI. If they are truly endorsed as Republican / GOP, I will not be Republican / GOP.
I cooperated with Kurt Van Koevering around a campaign for Alvin Hoekman in 1990, before I was abandoned in that race when the Second District Party Chair Glenn Hop tried to create a revolt and a Bill Van Regenmorter campaign for Congress. The candidate for which the revolt was staged balked over personal issues, gifting America with Congressman Pete Hoekstra when he filled the suddenly open seat instead. What a grandiose mistake that was.
Going to that Republican Party County Convention started my turn to the left. I am an Elizabeth Warren Democrat and the founder of the Ottawa Objects Facebook group now. Thanks for the shout out Kurt, it’s nice to be on the same side again, however briefly. At least I know your candidates have the scruples to work for everyone and to have no contracts with anyone but their voters. I also suspect most of your county level candidates likely would be non-partisan if they could be.
Keep up the fight and I promise an honorable campaign when we return to normal blue versus normal red, if we manage to put the OI and MAGA who are so far beyond Republican out of our collective misery first. Maybe you’ll even join me in making local politics non-partisan and we can test how conservative this county really is, if you dare.
I dare to be an Ottawa Democrat.