The hearing in state court came in the same week that former President Donald J. Trump pleaded not guilty to federal charges connected to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Republican old guard is protesting the direction of the party after it put forward two champions of Donald Trump’s election falsehoods for attorney general and secretary of state.
The former president is trying to reshape the battleground state in his image. But his false claims about the 2020 election are driving a wedge between loyalists and those who are eager to move on.