The exact number was unclear because the committee didn’t announce the exact result of the vote, which was conducted by delegates standing to denote their position.
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The outcome is not final but shows the herculean climb the anti-Trump faction faces in stopping his nomination. Republican leaders had no interest in throwing the convention into the chaos of a floor fight and in the process, ignoring the will of millions of Republican primary and caucus voters.
“I think the printer will be fixed”, Washington delegate Graham Hunt said after walking out of the closed-door negotiating session. Trump called the system “rigged” early on, and his opponents have demanded more power for delegates to select a fresh nominee.
“That is a God-given right. So we’re not going to change the wheel”, he said on Fox.
Trump’s top aide Paul Manafort immediately declared victory on Twitter – adding to only 15 tweets he’s ever posted on his account. The New York Times obtained Trump’s convention speaker list, which had Tebow set to appear on the fourth night of the convention. “We hope this unifies the party”.
“This problem, this angst is not going to go away because we paper it over with rules”.
Unruh, like many of her allies a delegate for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign. Neither will former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight or legendary boxing promoter Don King, a Cleveland resident and passionate Trump supporter.
And as for Trump delegates, they’re calling for the party to unite behind him-at least according to Shannon Moore, a local Trump delegate.
If the idea of Tim Tebow speaking in support of Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention blew your mind on Thursday, you’re not alone.
But by late afternoon, Ken Cuccinelli a leader of the conservatives who was an adviser to Cruz’s defunct presidential campaign said GOP leaders he was negotiating with told him, “Sorry, we don’t have a deal”. “If we’re really representing the grassroots, we need to listen to those voters [who voted for Trump]”.
RNC loyalists on the committee had asked the chair earlier in the evening to push through the remaining amendments instead of taking a recess for the night, in an apparent move to force a vote on the most controversial issues after everyone had already been meeting for hours.
The delegate from Colorado who wrote the proposal, Kendal Unruh, vowed to get the 28 signatures needed to allow for a “floor fight” or a vote to allow delegates to back another candidate. However, they fell far short of doing so.
People walk into the Quicken Loans arena in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, days before the city hosts the Republican National Convention.
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Others rejected the change saying the party needs the flexibility to change quickly, and can’t always wait four years to tweak the rules.
