He says national party leaders “made a mockery of the rules” by not allowing a roll-call vote.
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Opponents of the rules package were backed by Ted Cruz allies including Virginia’s Ken Cuccinelli and Utah Sen. Changes they wanted to see include closing primaries to non-Republican voters, which would help establishment Republicans do well over the course of the primary season. “I have no idea”, Lee told THE WEEKLY STANDARD as he walked off the floor.
Votes on convention rules happen at each Republican National Convention, and they are generally pulled off quietly as the Convention begins. “This is about the future of the party…”
According to Utah Senator Lee, the anti-Trump Republican National Convention isn’t really about hurt feelings or even Donald Trump.
“We are always looking, as conservatives, to make sure that our rules are good to make sure we have good candidates in the future”.
“I have to abide by that decision, but that doesn’t mean that I have to support him”, said Scott. “This is not about this year, it’s not about any one year”.
Lee said the fight doesn’t demonstrate the party is divided. “That’s all it says”, Lee said.
All eyes are on Donald Trump and the level of support he receives. “We knew it was going to be close”.
Delegate Brad Lager also opposed the rules. That left the insurgents short of the seven states needed by GOP rule to force a roll call.
The petition could potentially lead to allowing delegates to vote their heart rather than as prescribed by primary outcomes.
Regina Thomson, a Colorado Delegate and state director for Ted Cruz said that the Republican National Convention floor was “overwhelmingly flooded” with Republicans angry with the way things went down and how the rules were managed. “They want a roll call vote and apparently the leadership just steamrolled right through the fact that the whole place was calling for a roll call vote”.
Although the effort was cast as a ploy by anti-Trump elements, numerous rules delegates wanted to change had to do with whether state primaries would be open or closed. She wants everyone to be able to come here and vote for the “candidate of their choice”.
“Call the roll, call the roll”, opponents shouted.
Arizona delegate Kathy Petsas, who has some reservations about Trump, said she thought a roll call vote should have proceeded.
“Our goal is to destroy them”, Gates said.
We’ll have more convention coverage throughout the next few days. Lee objected that the chair never even identified which states revoked their petitions, and an RNC official told Time magazine’s Zeke Miller that the RNC would not release a list of withdrawn signatures and delegations invalidated.
“It would disrupt the convention for no reason”, he said.
Earlier in the day, former New Hampshire Sen.
Campaign chairman Paul Manafort had previously promised that anti-Trump efforts had been “crushed”, only to see them pop up again in dramatic form at the convention in Cleveland.
There were protests outside the 2016 Republican National convention in Cleveland and at one point, unrest inside swirled around a Vermonter.
Humphrey said he and others were fighting the “political sterilization” of Republican delegates.
“This is Republican family discussion – and our part of the discussion was shut down very abruptly”, he said.
State Rep. Janssen Willhoit is a Kasich delegate, but hopes to be won over by a toned-down version of the nominee-in-waiting.
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“The chair has found insufficient support for the request for a record vote”, Womack said as booming objections got ever louder.
