Michigan’s two representatives on the Republican National Convention’s Platform Committee are at odds over whether presumed presidential nominee Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the Mexican border should be in the party’s policy platform. But the law in question was so obscure that Republicans had already chose to allocate delegates in a proportional fashion, based on the results of the state’s March 1 primary, which Trump won.
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The rules committee also plans to meet this week.
The conservative, joined by his wife on the panel, is one of the highest-profile committee members and has been non-committal on his views about whether the results of this year’s primaries and caucuses should continue to bind numerous delegates to Trump on the first round of nomination balloting. “So I don’t think that’s going to happen”.
Delegates will spar over proposals for official positions of the Republican Party, as well as the finalized rules that will govern next week’s convention.
“People really came together and understood we need to defeat Hillary Clinton, that that would be a disaster for the country if she were elected president”, he said. Some “Never Trump” groups may push for a rule that eliminates bound delegates, allowing them to vote for any candidate they wish during next week’s presidential nomination.
Even as Trump keeps his distance from the debate, other Republicans who share his more accepting view of gay and transgender issues are working aggressively to tone down some of the platform’s language.
Still, Virginia delegate Carroll Correll Jr., who filed the lawsuit last month, counted the ruling as a symbolic victory.
The first signs of how much turbulence Donald Trump will face on his convention flight to the Republican presidential nomination will be on display in committee meeting rooms this week in Cleveland.
But in March, when South Dakota was going through its delegate selection process, “it was looking like there was a decent chance it could be a contested convention, and we wouldn’t necessarily have a nominee picked”, he said.
While there will be a discussion about trying to deny Trump the nomination, the appropriate time to deal with that was during the primaries, said Matt Borges, who has worked closely with the Republican National Committee on the Cleveland convention through his role as chairman of the Ohio GOP.
Conventions usually start with a daytime session, where the delegates OK each other’s credentials, vote on the convention’s rules and approve the party platform.
But he doesn’t sense strong support from among fellow rules committee members to change the rules. Unlike most past election cycles, where delegate counts and state primary and caucus results created a clear leader with some amount of background as a GOP party member, Trump is a relative newcomer to the party with no government or direct political background, and his controversial stances and statements have created a divide among Republicans.
Trump had told David Barton, a delegate on the committee from Texas, that he wouldn’t “do anything to the platform”. Here’s a guide to what to expect, based on advance announcements and past conventions. Paul Ryan, the Republican House speaker, said on Monday that he, too, will deliver remarks.
Cruz said that Trump offered Cruz a speaking slot and that he accepted.
The original draft of the 2016 GOP platform, obtained by CNN, included a passage about Title IX that chastises the White House for federal guidance instructing public facilities like schools to accommodate transgender individuals.
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The Speaker endorsed Trump for president in early June after a period of withholding his support, saying, “I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives”.
