OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich — Ottawa Impact will lose its majority on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners after a number of its candidates failed to win their Republican primaries.
In total, nine candidates endorsed by Ottawa Impact (OI) ran for a seat on the commission.
Four — incumbents Joe Moss, Kendra Wenzel, Sylvia Rhodea and Allison Miedema — defended their office. Five others — incumbents Gretchen Cosby and Roger Belknap and three challengers — lost their respective races to other Republicans.
Regardless of the outcome of the November general election, the conservative grassroots political group that brought a new — and at times controversial and contested — era of governance to the county, will have no more than four seats on the county commission in the New Year.
READ MORE: Election Results: August 2024 Primary Key Races
FOX 17 spoke to two political analysts on the primary and its meaning for Ottawa Impact.
"I wouldn't call it a referendum," said Dr. Doug Koopman, a professor emeritus of political science at Calvin University. "It is a check, maybe. [It's] a speed bump, and maybe a call to think again what your strategy and tactics are in the future."
Referencing the countywide races for prosecutor, sheriff and treasurer, where each Ottawa Impact-backed candidate lost to another Republican by at least 20 percentage points, Koopman believes the "general consensus" of voters in Ottawa County is that Ottawa Impact "overreached."
"Did they cut too much money? Did they hire the wrong people? Did they spend too much money on legal fees? All those were issues," he said.
While Koopman does not know how the board will handle its lame-duck period, a "guarantee," he says, is that Joe Moss, the current chair of the board and co-founder of Ottawa Impact, will lose his gavel.
"It might be someone who has been friendly with both, or sort of hard to cast as either Ottawa Impact or Organize Ottawa, but almost certainly there'll be a new chair," Koopman said.
Meanwhile, John Sellek, CEO of Harbor Strategic, a Lansing public relations and political consulting firm, does consider the results of Tuesday's primary to be a referendum on Ottawa Impact.
"Winning elections is very different than governing," Sellek said. "It was way too bumpy, way too controversial, too much infighting."
The new board, he believes, has a mandate to take on "a nicer tone and a more consistent professional standard."
"Even with only a four-seat minority, it'll be interesting to see what [OI] does to pressure the new majority and how they operate," Sellek said.
Regardless, both say the legacy of Ottawa Impact and its populist roots will remain a factor in future iterations of the board.
"There's always a bit of a move back to the center, but rarely is there a move back all the way," Koopman said. "Remember, they're [mostly] all Republicans. They are not Democrats."
"The new members who get on there have to realize the things that made Ottawa Impact popular," Sellek added. "This board isn't just going back to the sleepy backwater it was before. It probably still will be a feisty place and a place that media will want to cover."
In a statement on its Facebook page, Ottawa Impact said they were "just getting started."
"When winds blow and culture shifts, our core remains the same. We are committed to doing the right thing. We have a duty to protect kids, protect America, and protect foundational values and truth," his post said in part. "The majority does not dictate morality. There are consequences to abandoning truth and abdicating freedom. Houses built on sand do not stand."
For the full statement, click here.
