(MPRN-Lansing) Protests and a national campaign to convince presidential electors to vote for anyone but President-elect Donald Trump did nothing to change the result in Michigan.
Electors said they got thousands of letters and e-mails from across the country, but John Haggard said he never gave a thought to casting his ballot for anyone other than Trump.
“Why would I waver?” he said.
But Republican elector Jack Holmes said he voted the way he wanted to vote.
“I think it was time to do something different,” he said. “I think Donald Trump represented something different, something that needed to be done, and the kind of leadership we need in this country.”
State law says electors who don’t support the nominee who won the general election are automatically replaced. The electors were chosen last summer at a state Republican Party convention.
Michigan Republican Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said there was never any danger of electors defecting.
“They were solid for our president, Donald J. Trump, our president-elect, and (Vice-president-elect) Mike Pence, so we had no concerns today that they would cast their votes any other way.”
McDaniel, the niece of 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, is Trump’s choice to lead the Republican National Committee next year.
The Electoral College vote capped the closest presidential race in Michigan history, and the first won by a Republican in 28 years.
