Former state Representative Shane Hernandez is officially the Michigan Republicans' nominee for lieutenant governor.
That’s after overcoming a challenge from failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Ralph Rebandt at the party's nominating convention Saturday.
“When I announced that I wanted him as my lieutenant governor, I had some of the legislature call me and say, ‘We love him. He’s a little bit stubborn.’ And I was like, ‘I know. I know. He’s stubborn for all of you,'” Dixon said at a convention after-party.
Hernandez said his victory is a reflection of his longstanding involvement within party politics.
"I’ve been a delegate for 12 years now," Hernandez said. "I came in as a grassroots member myself and they know me, and they know my record and I think that the results show that they trust me.
The convention got off to a rocky start — with crowd members who were unhappy over a Macomb County dispute booing party leadership.
The situation ultimately resulted in the seating of an alternate group of delegates that the state party previously barred from the convention floor.
Conservative strategist Jamie Roe was among the delegates sent home. He said he hopes the infighting doesn’t hurt the top of the Republican ticket.
"The segment of the grassroots has stepped up and made their voices heard, you know, quite honestly, it’s kind of refreshing," Roe said. "It shows that there’s energy in the party to go out there and work hard, but we’ll see what it means. They need to support our nominee."
The seated delegates are more aligned with a wing of the party that questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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