Seeking to capitalize on this, Cruz has outmaneuvered Trump lately in the behind-the-scenes battle for delegates in places that don’t assign them through traditional primaries or caucuses.
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The Texas senator’s campaign ran eight delegates for eight committee spots and lost every one, alleging it was “double-crossed” by Kasich supporters.
While Trump is not scheduled to appear in Colorado, the campaign recently replaced their state director, and their new operative on the ground, Patrick Davis, told Breitbart News they are distributing Trump slates and “talking with convention delegates face to face [and] changing minds”.
Leadership has also repeatedly suggested lawmakers are to blame for the rise of Trump and Cruz, who have ridden anti-Washington frustration to the top of the GOP presidential field. So far, more than 500 have done so “and the applications continue to pour in”, said Wadi Gaitan, spokesman for the state Republican Party.
The Trump campaign has always been pessimistic about its chances in Colorado. If no candidate wins a majority of votes for the party’s nomination, delegates can start voting for other hopefuls on subsequent ballots.
That means all 42 delegates from MA can cast ballots for anyone they want.
You could have a rare opportunity to help make history, if none of the Republican presidential candidates reaches the target 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination on the first ballot. A raucous cheer went up from the New Yorkers, but the Wyoming vote was a draw from a delegate perspective: Sanders and Clinton each picked up seven. “I am organizing these responsibilities under someone who has done this job successfully in many campaigns”.
“We will see what happens at the time”, she said.
Ten of the delegates told The Associated Press that they support Cruz.
When Donald Trump walked onstage for his final rally before Wisconsin’s presidential primary, he found an unfamiliar sight: hundreds of empty seats.
And former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, a Kasich ally who co-chaired the Republican National Committee from 2005 to 2009, has left her position with Kasich’s political action committee and is assisting the campaign with preparations for a contested convention.
Another Trump backer, Scott Koeneman, yelled “Cruz people are trying to masquerade as Trump delegates” while supporters of the courageous conservatives group were being counted in a standing vote on whether to elect that slate.
Trump’s organizers in Colorado distributed a slate that included incorrect information for four of his desired delegates. The most senior party officials fill the three remaining delegate posts. “Colorado was just next for the campaign to focus on”, Davis said, adding that the addition of campaign veteran Paul Manafort to lead the delegate effort shows that Trump understands its importance. If he hits more than 50 percent in each congressional district, he would win all 95 of New York’s plum delegate prize. But the delegations themselves – usually an afterthought – have become battlegrounds on the path to an expected convention fight in Cleveland.
“We’re going to be standing up there in Cleveland like a bunch of nobodies”, said Bill Folchi, chairman of the Charlotte County Republican Party, who was elected last week as a delegate to the convention.
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Jerry Demey, a 73-year old delegate from Pueblo, Colorado, marvelled at the attention the convention was earning from the national media.
