GOP chair: ‘The party is choosing a nominee’
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus on Tuesday pushed back on critics of the GOP’s presidential nominating process.
“This is a nomination for the Republican Party,” Priebus said during an interview on WTMJ in Wisconsin. “If you don’t like the party, then sit down. I mean, the party is choosing a nominee.”
{mosads}Priebus offered the comments while explaining the allocation and selection of delegates at the local level, and the importance of relationships in locking up support from state-level officials.
The fight for delegates is increasing in importance as GOP frontrunner Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) battle toward what could be a contested convention this summer in Cleveland.
Cruz is seeking to keep Trump from clinching the nomination before the convention. In Cleveland, he hopes to wrest the nomination away at a convention vote.
Most delegates are bound to the candidate who won their state’s delegate on a first ballot, but on subsequent ballots they could be free to vote for another candidate.
That’s led Trump and Cruz to try to ensure that loyalists are selected as delegates to the convention.
It’s also possible that rules for the nomination could be changed ahead of the convention, though Priebus downplayed that scenario.
“I don’t think major changes are going to take place, but I don’t get to write the rules,” Priebus said.
Priebus’ remarks, which were highlighted by The Washington Examiner, come on the day of the Wisconsin primary where Cruz is hoping to pull out a win over Trump.
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