Wow.

That’s what a great many Upper Peninsula residents likely said early last week when a festering behind-the-scenes Republican Party dust up over who’s endorsing whom in the upcoming 2026 elections burst into the public arena as a full-fledged mud slinger.

With epithets most often expected from the elected culture warriors in Washington, D.C., and less often Lansing, state Sen. Ed McBroom, joined by state Reps. Karl Bohnak and Greg Markkanen, ripped into U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman for his endorsement of former state representative Beau LaFave for McBroom’s job.

McBroom, from Waucedah Township, is term limited and cannot run for re-election. McBroom, Bohnak of Deerton and Markkanen, who is from Hancock, favor state Rep. Dave Prestin, who is from Escanaba.

According to McBroom, Bergman promised to not endorse anyone in the upcoming election for his seat, but went back on the commitment and is now supporting LaFave.

McBroom flat out called Bergman, a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general, a liar.

“I’ve seen him be disloyal to local party members, interfere in races outside his district, stab fellow Republicans in the back and even publicly attack me. Those were internal party matters,” he said. “This time is different. This time, he straight up lied to me. Now he’s siding against the clear, best option for the U.P. I will not stand by silently while he undermines the work we have done for the U.P.”

Markkanen used a lighter hand.

“For years, Congressman Bergman has been criticized for being absent from the U.P.,” he said. “This only reinforces that concern.”

Intoned Bohnak: “You would think the Congressman might ask those of us in Lansing why we support Prestin before backing someone else and trashing us. Instead, this is just another example of his disconnect from what’s actually happening in the U.P.”

Bergman usually wins his elections by wide margins. He hit back hard, through an office spokesman branding McBroom a lame duck who did little while in office.

“While Ed raised gas taxes, did nothing on electricity rates and fought against President Trump, he wants to blame the problems the U.P. faces on General Bergman winning a primary in 2016 against the candidate Ed supported,” the spokesman said.

Added LaFave, who served two terms in the state house from Iron Mountain and most recently worked for Markkanen: “I was fired by Greg Markkanen for not endorsing their favorite candidate: a former Chicago nightclub owner who pleaded guilty to domestic battery after beating his wife for years. Beating women wasn’t exactly the U.P. values I assumed Ed and Greg were talking about.”

The nightclub owner referred to by LaFave is Prestin, who admits to pleading guilty to domestic battery in Illinois more than three decades ago.

“Thirty-three years ago, I pushed my then-fiancee during an argument. I took responsibility, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and completed counseling with her. We then married but parted ways a year later. I deeply regret this simple incident, but it was a profound learning experience,” said Prestin. “I’m a different man today, shaped by decades of growth and commitment to family and community — including 25 years of marriage to my beautiful wife, Katie, during which we raised our beloved daughter, Mattie.”

To get our arms around this nest of adders, The Mining Journal approached Dr. Robert Kulisheck, a professor emeritus in political science at Northern Michigan University and long-time political observer. Kulisheck said he was surprised by the intensity of the exchanges and the “vehemence of the criticisms exchanged by various representatives in the Republican Party.

“It became very personal and intense, and went beyond that particular issue and questioned the whole way in which Congressman Bergman has been representing the district,” he said.

Bergman has long been the subject of criticism for not holding so-called town hall gatherings in the district. Additionally, his opponents complain that he is a political carpetbagger, someone who actually lives elsewhere (in Bergman’s case, Louisiana) but claims residence in the district (Watersmeet).

The people Bergman has run against and handily defeated have tried — and failed — to use those items as campaign issues. Put another way, a majority of the people who turn out and vote in the First Congressional District appear uninterested in any of it. If there’s some question about where the general lives, who cares? What about Hillary’s email accounts or Beau Biden’s laptop!

Here’s a fact that cannot be disputed. This ugly fight is unprecedented in the history of local and regional politics. It’s hard to see these fences getting mended any time soon.

Of course, the key question is, will any of this matter on Election Day? Here’s what Abraham Lincoln had to say: “Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”