Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus on Tuesday huddled with House Republicans on the GOP presidential primary and nominating convention.
Priebus stressed that the process will head to a second ballot if no candidate secures 1,237 delegates before the GOP convention.
{mosads}It was part of a 15-minute presentation he delivered to the House Republican Conference about the nominating process and upcoming convention in Cleveland in July.
Those who attended the meeting at the Capitol Hill Club next to the RNC headquarters said Priebus tried to reassure lawmakers that the process will be fair and transparent, and that existing rules will be followed.
The GOP chairman repeatedly referred lawmakers to a website, Conventionfacts.gop.
“What he did say was the number is 1,237 and if you don’t hit 1,237 that means you didn’t get a majority of the votes and thus you’re dealing with a second ballot,” said Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.), whose state will hold its presidential primary next week. “It was totally about process.”
The meeting comes amid an internal fight in the GOP over what rules should be used in the event of a contested convention in Cleveland in July.
Priebus and Speaker Paul Ryan, both Wisconsin Republicans and close friends, are portraying themselves as neutral arbiters in the primary race; Priebus runs the party, while Ryan will serve as ceremonial chairman of the summer gathering.
But GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump has accused Priebus and other party officials of rigging the system to throw the nomination to another candidate if Trump can’t secure enough delegates to clinch before the convention.
Delegate-rich New York holds its primary Tuesday. Priebus will depart later this week to Florida, where RNC members are holding their spring meeting and are expected to have a heated debate over convention rules.
Nobody complained about the rules to Priebus at the Tuesday meeting, and he took no questions from lawmakers before exiting the room.
But Ryan said Priebus was received “extremely favorably” by the 246-member GOP conference.
“He is making sure that the rules are the rules and that we follow the rules,” Ryan told reporters after the meeting. “So what Reince wanted to do was simply walk members through the process as we’re going into it.”
– Updated at 12:42 p.m.