Michigan GOP executive director quits under pressure from Trump allies

The executive director of the Michigan Republican Party has quit his post just a few months after taking over the top job amid pressure from supporters of former President Trump.

Jason Cabel Roe, a longtime Republican operative who took over the state party in February, sparked anger among Trump acolytes after he acknowledged the former president lost Michigan’s electoral votes in 2020.

“I have resigned my position as executive director and the reasons will remain between me and Chairman [Ron] Weiser,” Roe said in a text message. “We’ve built an amazing team and I know they will be very successful in 2022. I look forward to helping anyway I can.”

The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta first reported Roe’s departure. Roe had told Alberta last year that Trump’s loss in Michigan could only be pinned on one person: Trump himself.

“The election wasn’t stolen, he blew it. Up until the final two weeks, he seemingly did everything possible to lose. Given how close it was, there is no one to blame but Trump,” Roe said at the time.

Roe has a long history in Michigan and national Republican politics. He has served as a campaign manager, a Capitol Hill chief of staff and as a top official on Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign. He guided former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer (R), now a candidate running in California’s gubernatorial recall election, to two wins there.

The Lansing resident took over the Michigan state party after Weiser won election to serve a new term. Roe helped fend off proposals to censure Reps. Fred Upton (R) and Peter Meijer (R) over their votes to impeach Trump earlier this year.

But Republican activists were still focused on his comments blaming Trump for the 2020 loss. State Republican precinct committee officers delivered a resolution to party leaders urging them to fire Roe, though Weiser defended him at the time.

Roe declined to elaborate on why he had left. He said he would be taking the rest of the summer off.