Signaling a potentially boisterous start to the Republican convention, anti-Trump delegates claimed on Monday that they’d collected enough signatures of delegates to force a state-by-state roll call vote on changing party rules, a battle that party leaders hoped to avoid.
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It seemed highly unlikely that the insurgents would prevail.
Republican aides said delegates from Maine, Minnesota and the District of Columbia had removed their names from petitions demanding a roll call – a practice that was eased by a rules change when the committee met last week. Trump’s nomination is essentially automatic under the current rules, because he has far more than the 1,237 delegates required to win. Likewise, the dissenters will have to do more than make noise during an obscure midday vote about the convention’s rules. “There’s no reason for the vote other than the disrupt the convention and embarrass he nominee”.
The Cleveland police chief says that security planners considered whether a ban on the open carry of firearms could be enforced during this week’s Republican National Convention but learned that police had no authority to override state law. But one official said the negotiations had failed, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
Some socially conservative delegates – many backers of Texas Sen.
Republican Party leadership and officials from Donald Trump’s campaign said Monday they’d held 11th-hour talks with anti-Trump delegates to see if they could avert a messy floor fight, live on television, over the rules. They attempted to make it clear to the rules committee that not all delegates wanted to be bound to a specific candidate at the convention.
“This is really appalling”, Ken Cuccinelli, a delegate from Virginia who favored a roll-call vote, told MSNBC afterward.
It was one of the final efforts by the Trump opponents, including former U.S. senator Gordon Humphrey, who presented the petition signatures from a majority of delegates in nine states. The conservative delegates have said they think party leaders could thwart a roll call by taking steps like making it hard for them to deliver their documents.
“When we leave here, by and large, it’s going to be a united Republican Party”, he said. Pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators clashed at various Trump events during the campaign.
“John Kasich is being petulant”, said Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, to reporters Monday morning at a Bloomberg breakfast. “It’s some rogue, recalcitrant delegates”.
“I won’t campaign against Mr. Trump – there is no point in that – and I will certainly not campaign for a third party, but I also won’t cast a vote for him”, says Thompson.
The seating chart is out, and if your state voted for Trump, you’re in a better position (literally) than those who didn’t.
The chairman presiding over the voice vote, Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas, returned after a brief absence to call for a second voice vote, after he initially ruled in favor of adopting the rules in the first voice vote.
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“A convention shouldn’t be a coronation”, said Glasscock. “It should truly be a convention where we discuss the future direction of our party”.
