GOP faction steps up campaign to free delegates, stop Trump

Proposals include ‘conscience clause’ to be voted on by panel at convention

Republican Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Wednesday in Bangor, Maine.
Republican Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Wednesday in Bangor, Maine.

As Republicans move closer to their convention in Cleveland next month, a growing faction of delegates is campaigning to block Donald Trump from securing the presidential nomination.

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The multipronged effort includes outreach to individual attendees, national television ads and even a lawsuit. Trump opponents want to allow the 2,472 delegates to vote for whomever they want instead of casting ballots according to the results of the state primaries and caucuses, in which Trump picked up the most delegates in a crowded field of contenders.

Backers of the efforts to block Trump say extraordinary measures are necessary in light of the candidate's declining poll numbers, low fundraising and penchant for inflammatory rhetoric.

"The convention is not a coronation. They were never meant to be," said Steve Lonegan, a New Jersey-based Republican operative who is working with Courageous Conservatives PAC, one of several groups pushing to free the delegates.

Pointing to Trump's recent gaffes, Lonegan said "these delegates have an obligation to review all of this."

The grass-roots movement would require organizers to contact scores of delegates and argue the merits of a politically fraught position that would essentially invalidate the results of the primary season. And organizers have not put forth an alternative candidate for the nomination should Trump falter, leaving delegates with no substitute to rally around.

Still, the fledgling effort is being closely watched by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, which worry that any convention chaos would show a lack of confidence about the presumptive nominee within his own party, weakening him before the general election.

The movement has thrown a spotlight on the procedures that guide the nomination process.

In this case, Trump opponents are focusing on whether delegates should be bound to the results of the primaries, in accordance with state laws and party rules. Most state delegations are required to vote according to the results of their primary or caucus on at least the first round of balloting.

Curly Haugland, a GOP party official from North Dakota, has argued for years that convention delegates are not bound at all. Haugland's proposal got little traction in the past, but it is now championed by a bloc of Republicans who are calling for delegates to vote freely regardless of primary results.

Another faction, led by Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh, is proposing a rule to make clear that delegates have a right to "vote their conscience" without risking sanctions or censure from the national or state party.

The "conscience clause" proposal would first be considered by the convention rules committee, the 112-member body that will meet a week before the nominating proceedings kick off.

Getting approval from a majority of rules committee members -- many of whom are allies of Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus -- is a steep climb, but gaining the support of a quarter of the committee members would be enough to produce a minority report, which would be presented at the full convention. Delegates would then choose between two competing rules packages.

"Then the question is, who has the majority of the floor?" said Randy Evans, a longtime Republican National Committee official from Georgia.

Neither the Trump campaign nor the Republican National Committee responded to requests for comment.

Advocates for freeing the delegates, meanwhile, have been cheered by what they see as subtle nods to their efforts by Republican leaders. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said earlier this month that delegates should follow their conscience when casting a vote. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker echoed those remarks.

Proponents have begun to hire staff members, coordinate their efforts through regular conference calls and reach out to delegates. Lonegan, Unruh and other organizers have become staples on cable news, hoping to build momentum via a media blitz.

The Citizens in Charge Foundation, a conservative organization, has distributed Haugland's book, Unbound, for free, and an affiliated group is running a television ad nationally to call for delegates to vote according to their conscience.

The foundation also is backing a lawsuit filed last week by a Virginia delegate who is seeking to block a state law requiring that delegates cast their votes on the first ballot according to the results of the primary.

"Our effort is to provide political cover, understanding and education to the delegates," said Dane Waters, a co-founder of a group called Delegates Unbound.

What they are not trying to do, Waters said, is promote a substitute for Trump.

"We don't have a dog in the hunt. We're not trying to push any specific candidate," Waters said. "As long as the delegates can vote freely, let the cards fall where they may."

On the Democratic side of the presidential race, President Barack Obama will make an appearance next week with Hillary Clinton, the party's presumed nominee.

The Clinton campaign described Tuesday's event in Charlotte, N.C., as a discussion of "building on the progress we've made."

Obama had been scheduled to campaign with Clinton in Wisconsin two weeks ago, but the event was canceled after the nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla.

In a video this month endorsing Clinton, Obama's former Democratic presidential rival and secretary of state, the president said he did not think a candidate had ever been so qualified for the office.

Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, criticized Trump on Wednesday in an opinion article for The New York Times, saying the Republican "could benefit from the same forces" that led Britain to vote to leave the European Union.

Sanders argued that "the global economy is not working for the majority of people in our country and the world" and that any political advantage flowing to Trump from the British vote "should sound an alarm for the Democratic Party."

Sanders hasn't conceded the Democratic nomination to Clinton, though he has said he would vote for her if she wins the nomination at the party's convention.

Information for this article was contributed by Melanie Mason of the Los Angeles Times, Matt Flegenheimer of The New York Times and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 06/30/2016

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