After a chaotic first year as chair of the Livingston County Republican Party — a period full of infighting and, more recently, calls for her to step down, — Jennifer Smith is resigning, effective Feb. 1, 2024.
Smith said she’s tired of being harassed. She’s tired of the fighting. And she’s tired of all the “bad actors and chaos creators” she claims have infiltrated the local GOP.
On the Jan. 23 episode of the “This is My Brain” podcast, Smith said she is resigning because of negative Facebook comments she’s received, as well as “for the safety” of her family.
“I was being so intentionally harassed by Republicans,” Smith said, adding that there would be more information coming out in the future.
“(The fighting) is not reflective of who I am inherently as a human being. It is not in me to constantly be out here battling with people I don’t agree with,” she said. “I don’t wake up every day of my life and go: ‘Yay, who’s going to attack me today? How do I go to war with them? I want to destroy people.’ It’s not in my DNA, not inherently who I am, to battle with people who are … on the same side with but in humanity. It’s not who I am.”
Like many of the new players in the local GOP, Smith joined because of mask mandates: “I was pissed off that the school district said my kids’ mask exemption was no good when their doctor said it was valid.”
Smith said her aspiration in taking over the reins of the local GOP was not to replace previous chair Meghan Reckling.
“I intended to do this simply because I thought I could be a harbinger of peace or unity amongst everyone,” Smith said. “What I learned is that politics is evil; it’s a cesspool; it is deeper and swampier than you can ever imagine.”
Smith said she doesn’t want to fight.
“That’s not who I am,” she said. “When the fight came to my kids, I’m done. I’ve probably been done for a very long time.”
The one thing that could have changed things? “If more people would have stood up and said ‘this is wrong, we shouldn’t have this.’”
There was also discussion about a threatening letter Smith said was sent to her home.
“I wanted to say to the delegates out there that are like, I joined because I thought it was right … to fight for the right things,” Smith said. “The problem is there’s bad actors, chaos creators who have infiltrated.”
And then Smith took a swipe at Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin: “What is it that you literally despise about Elissa Slotkin, other than her hair and her horrible clothes,” Smith asked podcast host Jeremy Scott Gibbs. “Party before people.”
Smith urged local GOP delegates to show up at the upcoming executive committee meeting and to contact their local officials to make their views known on who should lead.
“They want to flush out the pure-hearted grassroots movement so they can retain control of the party,” Smith warned. “That’s what they want.”
Where do the local GOP delegates fit in?
“Bottom line is, I don’t want you to quit,” Smith said. “I am asking you to hang in there. Please, don’t quit. Maybe we’ll start our own grassroots movement.”
