Michigan GOP infighting has escalated as convention looms.

When last we spoke about the Michigan Republican Party, a faction led by election truther and Trump supporter Kristina Karamo was fighting with a second faction, alsoled by Trump supporters, that said it had voted to replace her as state chair with a former congressman named Pete Hoekstra. (Karamo’s critics accuse her of mismanaging the party’s finances and allege that it is on the verge of bankruptcy, while her allies argue that she is being attacked because her grassroots authenticity is threatening to Republican elites. Hoekstra served as the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands under Trump.)

The two sides were seemingly faced with a March 2 deadline for figuring out whom the real state chair was, sincea caucus-style convention was set to be held that dayin Detroit for the purpose of selecting delegates to the Republican National Convention. (This year’s GOP convention will be held in Milwaukee in July.)

With March 2 now just days away, the feud has pulled in national Republicans, spread into the courts, and resulted in the concurrent planning of two nominating conventions. One of those conventions may or may not have just been abandoned, but what’s clear is that the underlying conflict has notbeen resolved.

Here’s the backstory:

• On Jan. 27, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Hoekstra had his “Complete and Total Endorsement” as chair. This was followed, on Feb. 15, by the Republican National Committee officially recognizing Hoekstra as chair and, on Feb. 20, by the Republican leaders in Michigan’s state House and Senate announcing in a press release that they too support Hoekstra. Hoekstra also announced on Feb. 20 that he would be holding a competing, RNC-recognized state convention in Grand Rapids on March 2 on the same time that Karamo’s group was holding its convention in Detroit.

• Karamo responded by calling the RNC “corrupt” and refusing to relinquish control of the state party’s bank accounts or communications. (Her allies say that Trump is being given poor advice about the conflict by “big establishment Republicans.”) On Feb. 1, she and Hoekstra both attended a Republican National Committee meeting in Las Vegas, although neither was allowed to vote, and they do not appear to have interacted.

• Hoekstra’s faction filed suit in the state’s Kent County, asking a judge to enjoin Karamo from continuing to act as chair. Last week, the judge heard preliminary testimony in the case, which seeks confirmation from the court system that the vote to remove Karamo was held in accordance with state GOP bylaws. (The anti-Karamo committee faction, when it met to vote her out, says it took advantage of a provision that allowed for the appointment of proxy voters to act in the stead of pro-Karamo members who did not attend the meeting.)

Related From Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Things Are Getting Real Weird Within the Michigan GOP