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Michigan GOP report shows healthier finances, return of DeVos money
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LANSING — The rift between the DeVos family and the Michigan Republican Party has been healed, new federal campaign finance records suggest.
Betsy DeVos and six other DeVos family members donated $10,000 each to the state party in June, for a total of $70,000, records show.
The West Michigan billionaire family, which made its fortune through Amway Corp. and other ventures, has been a longtime source of funding for the state party. But the money flow was cut off for more than a year when the party was chaired by Kristina Karamo, a vocal critic of the family and its influence in the state party. The family continued to support state legislative races and other GOP causes.
“There has never been a rift between my team and the DeVos family,” said party chairman Pete Hoekstra. who was elected to replace Karamo in Januaryhe said in a Monday text message to the Free Press. “We’ve been friends for years. As for the previous leadership, they would have to work it out.”
Karamo did not respond to a text message seeking comment.
A report the Michigan Republican Party filed with the Federal Election Commission on July 14 shows a healthier financial picture for the state party, with cash on hand in its federal account improving to about $583,000 as of June 30, up from about $318,000 as of April 1, despite spending about $1.1 million during that period. The state party still listed debts of about $185,000.
The report also shows how crucial Michigan’s electoral success is to Republicans nationwide, with the bulk of the nearly $1.4 million in revenue during the reporting period coming from outside the state.
Top Michigan donors included: Betsy DeVos, a former state party chairwoman who served as Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump, who listed her occupation as “philanthropist”; Richard M. “Dick” DeVos, Betsy DeVos’s spouse and a former Republican candidate for Michigan governor; Amway Chairman Douglas DeVos, who, like Richard M. DeVos, is the son of the company’s founder, Rich DeVos; Maria DeVos, who is Douglas DeVos’s wife; DP Fox Ventures, LLC executive Daniel G. DeVos, another son of the Amway co-founder and a former executive; Pamella DeVos, Daniel G. DeVos’s wife; and Suzanne “Cheri” DeVos, the co-founder’s daughter who listed her occupation as homemaker. Each donated $10,000 on June 5.
Also donating $10,000 each were David Lee Van Andel, president and CEO of the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, and Carol Van Andel, who is a member of the institute’s board of governors and David Van Andel’s wife. David Van Andel is the son of the late Jay Van Andel, who co-founded Amway with the late Rich DeVos.
Other $10,000 donors from Michigan included Bob Mannes of Traverse City, the president of Core Energy, LLC, and Bloomfield Hills investor Joel Dorfman.
No individual person donated more than $10,000 to the state party during the reporting period, but the party received significantly larger donations from national Republican Party organizations.
Those donations included just over $808,000 from the Republican National Committee and just under $220,000 in donations transferred from the Trump 47 Committee, a joint fundraising committee associated with the Trump campaign.
Donations of $10,000 each reported to have been transferred to the Michigan Republican Party from the Trump 47 Committee included some from Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, the founder of Kushner Companies in New York City. Other $10,000 donations transferred to the state party included some from Miriam Adelson, a philanthropist who is the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson; James Liautaud of the Jimmy John’s sandwich franchise; billionaire Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus; and Wisconsin billionaire and film producer Diane Hendricks.
The state party has also received about $115,000 this year from the National Republican Senatorial Committee Targeted Victory Fund, records show. But those receipts are mostly offset by a $109,000 contribution to that state party fund.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.