GOP chairman: White House ‘ours to lose’

Despite fault lines in the party over Donald Trump’s candidacy, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus believes the presidential election is the GOP’s to lose in 2016.

{mosads}“I think we’re in a great place as a party, I think this is ours to lose,” Priebus said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

The chairman pointed to polls that call into question Democratic primary front-runner Hillary Clinton’s trustworthiness.

“My job is to make sure when we have a nominee, that we’re ready to go and we can beat Hillary Clinton, who’s already under 40 percent and over 60 percent of American people say they don’t trust her,” Priebus said.

Priebus said the contentious primary is a function of candidates trying to distinguish themselves from a crowded field.

“What it says is we’ve got 17 candidates running, and just by attrition, you’re going to have people dropping out,” Priebus said. “Look, there’s not enough hard cash to go around to pay campaigns in these states in order to keep 17 candidates alive. That’s just the way it is.”

“I think we’re going to win, and this is just a part of the process,” he added.

The RNC recently asked primary candidates to sign pledges affirming their loyalty to the ultimate nominee and promise not to run as third-party candidates should they lose the Republican nomination.

Trump, who had previously maintained that a third-party run was on the table, signed the pledge, but several other candidates said they would not support a Trump campaign for the presidency.