GOP official steps down days after sounding the alarm on the midterms: report

The 19-year-old chairman of the Republican Party of Marquette County, Michigan, has resigned, days after a series of anonymous posts he authored warning of collapsing GOP enthusiasm ahead of November's midterms went viral and drew national scrutiny.

The development was flagged on Monday by The Detroit News.

Jackson Karki stepped down over the weekend before fellow county Republican leaders could even hold a planned meeting to discuss how to respond, according to Jennifer Jermalowicz, the party's new interim chairwoman. Karki had been posting under the pseudonymous "Red Lion Politics" X account, which has more than 30,000 followers.

"The vibes on the ground are the worst I've seen in my life," the account posted on September 17. "No one wants to promote candidates, no one wants to knock doors, no one wants to do (expletive)."

Journalist Jake Lahut connected the account to Karki in a report published the next day, exposing his identity to a much wider audience. Jermalowicz said county Republicans had no idea Karki was behind the posts until the story began circulating online.

"We were not aware that he was making inflammatory comments about fellow Republicans, including President (Donald) Trump, under a pseudonym," Jermalowicz said.

The same account had described Trump as one of Karki's early political inspirations, while also acknowledging the difficulty of watching someone he once admired change so dramatically.

Karki defended himself in a statement to The Detroit News, describing his years of involvement in the local party dating back to 2020, when his grandfather, a Purple Heart recipient from the Vietnam War, first brought him to a meeting.

"The Republican Party is meant to be the party of debate, open discussion and integrity," Karki wrote. "As of late, the party has become very tight-knit and, in some ways, the opposite of those things. I hope those inside the party start to realize what's going on instead of being ignorant, because ignorance is the root of losing."

State Sen. Ed McBroom confirmed Karki's resignation, calling him a hardworking activist even while disagreeing with his bleak assessment of GOP enthusiasm. McBroom didn't mince words about the optics of the posts themselves, calling them "not a good look."

Marquette County carries real political weight in Michigan as the most populous county in the Upper Peninsula, sitting within the 109th state House District. Democrats held that seat for years before Republican Karl Bohnak flipped it in 2024, part of a broader GOP takeover of the state House that year.