Michigan Republicans gathered at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City on Friday night for a dinner in honor of the late Senator George McManus.
The event doubled as a kind of pep rally for the 2026 election, when Michigan will elect a new governor and U.S. senator.
Dinner honoring late senator
George McManus was a three-term Republican state senator who hailed from Old Mission Peninsula and championed northern Michigan's agriculture. He died in 2024. His family was in attendance at the dinner.
The event was ticketed — dinner cost $150. The proceeds raised will go to a new political action committee called the Friends of Up North. According to organizers, there were 170 people in attendance. The group's secretary Dennis Lennox said they were still tallying the total money raised, and that that information would be disclosed in future campaign finance reports filed with the state.
The Friends of Up North will raise and spend money to elect Republican candidates in northern Michigan, with a focus on retaining Michigan House seats already held by Republicans and flipping the 103rd District currently held by Democrat Betsy Coffia.
This was the PAC's second event. Its first was held in Mackinaw City in June.
Who was there?
There was a wide range of Republican politicians and donors in Michigan present, from the Grand Traverse County Clerk all the way up to Mike Rogers, who was initially scheduled to speak but only stayed for the opening reception. He’s making his second bid for the Senate.
There were five county sheriffs in attendance, including Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea who presented the colors.
There were speeches from politicians including U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet), state Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs), state Rep. John Roth (R-Interlochen) and Michigan House Majority Leader Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford).
Former state Rep. Tom Leonard, who’s running for governor, gave what amounted to a campaign speech.
“We saw what happened with the Democrats just several months ago, when their only campaign platform was I hate one person,” he said. “We cannot be the party that's spending the next 15, 16 months saying 'I hate Gretchen Whitmer,' or 'I hate Jocelyn Benson.' We better have a positive vision focused on solving problems with real, serious solutions.”
The event was MC’d by Bill Ballenger, former state politician and author of the political blog The Ballenger Report, who told IPR after the event that it is highly unusual to see this many prominent Republicans from downstate gathered in northern Michigan for a dinner.
Gearing up for 2026
Republicans lost a key race for the open Senate seat in Michigan in 2024. But, the state went for President Donald Trump. Speakers emphasized the need to win those voters without Trump on the ticket.
State Rep. Posthumus noted that in 2024, there were 120,000 voters who voted for Trump and then went home without voting for Mike Rogers or any down-ballot candidates.
“We have to turn those voters out to the polls without President Trump on the ticket,” said Posthumus, “and we have to articulate the conservative message in a way that convinces them that they need to vote downballot too.”
Ronna Romney McDaniel, a political strategist who ran the Republican National Committee from 2017 to 2024 and currently heads the recently launched Michigan Forward Network, spoke about unifying Michigan’s Republican Party.
"We can't be fighting each other. We can't be so mad at each other that we forget about the Democrats," she said. "We have to put our differences aside and remember what unites us is so much more powerful, and what the Democrats are doing to this state is ruining it."
Speakers focused on improving Michigan’s education system, lowering unemployment, increasing budget and spending oversight, implementing voter ID laws and improving mental health across Michigan.
There were no mentions of immigration, or tariffs — issues dominating national headlines. And beyond discussions of voter turnout, there were no mentions of President Trump.
The Friends of Up North also presented an award to Mary Orth, of Traverse City, for her work in the local Republican Party.
