The prospect of a contested Republican convention has ignited controversy in the U.S. Virgin Islands as party activists engaged in a bitter race for six of the territory’s nine GOP nominating delegates.
The winners of Thursday’s delegate election ran as uncommitted, meaning not pledged to support any candidate when the convention convenes in Cleveland this July. But that’s not the source of the uproar, according to interviews with multiple Republicans who are active in the USVI GOP. Rather, it’s resentment over the ultimately successful candidacies of veteran Republican strategist John Yob, his wife Erica, and ally Lindsey Eilon.
Yob, who advised Rand Paul’s presidential bid until the Kentucky senator exited the race, moved with his family to the U.S. Virgin Islands from Michigan last year. He authored the book Chaos: the Outsiders Guide to a Contested Republican National Convention, gaming out how the Cleveland convention might unfold.
Critics call Yob a carpetbagger, asserting that he viewed the local GOP as an easy mark to infiltrate, takeover, and use to get elected delegate.
“It was strange when we saw their names on the ballot, because nobody recognized who they were,” said Andrea Moeckel, one of Yob’s competitors who won enough votes to secure the position of alternate delegate. “We’re such a small community and we know everybody. As Republicans, there are so few of us.”
Like Yob, Moeckel ran as uncommitted to any of the remaining four Republican presidential candidates: New York celebrity businessman Donald Trump, the front-runner; Ohio Gov. John Kasich; Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
Until earlier this week, Yob, his wife, and Eilon weren’t even eligible to run for delegate. The Office of the Supervisor of Elections of the U.S. Virgin Islands determined that they didn’t meet a residency requirement to register to vote, without which you cannot be a candidate.
In a scathing letter to U.S. Virgin Islands Republican Party Chairman John Canegata, Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes accused the Yobs of lying about their residency to register to vote and gain access to the delegate ballot. “I care that he broke the rules,” said Valerie Stiles, a Rubio delegate who was elected alternate delegate and believes that Yob cheated.
Yob vociferously denies these charges.
Backing him up, a USVI court granted a temporary restraining order against the Board of Elections, reinstating the eligibility of him and his wife and enabling their victories on Thursday. In an email exchange with the Washington Examiner, Yob explained that he’s been vacationing on the islands for several years and had been trying to move there permanently since 2012. Finally, after placing offers on a dozen homes over three years, he closed on a house.
Yob blames Lilliana Belardo de O’Neal, chairwoman of the board of elections for St. Croix, for spreading false information about him in order to boost the candidacy for delegate of her husband, Humberto O’Neal, a Rubio delegate who won a slot as an alternate in Thursday’s elections.
“We have been coming to the Virgin Islands for a very long time and last year finally made it our home. Our children absolutely love their school and we are thankful to the vast majority of Virgin Islanders who have welcomed us to the community. It is important to encourage more families and job creators to travel to the Virgin Islands, experience paradise, and consider making it your home as well!” Yob said, in a statement he forwarded to the Examiner.
“I was honored to be selected as a national convention delegate and look forward to participating in what is sure to be a very exciting convention in Cleveland,” he added.
Trump and Cruz lead the field ahead of Tuesday’s primaries in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. But at 459 delegates for Trump and 360 for Cruz, it’s unclear that the top vote getter will arrive in Cleveland with the 1,237 he needs to secure the nomination. If that’s the case, convention delegates could determine the winner; they are not required to choose the candidate who won the most delegates or the most primaries and caucuses.
The USVI is sending nine delegates to Cleveland, including the six just elected, the GOP national committeeman and GOP national committeewoman, and Canegata, the territory’s GOP chairman.
All nine are uncommitted, putting the delegation in a position to extract commitments from the presidential candidates competing in exchange for pledging their support in a vote of the delegates on the floor of the convention — if it’s contested. The possibility that this scenario might play out fueled extra interest in the USVI GOP delegate elections and fostered more competition than usual among the candidates.
“This is the largest amount of people running for delegate that we ever had,” said Yob ally Holland Redfield, the RNC committeeman and former state GOP chairman who has lived there since 1969. Redfield, had been backing Jeb Bush, but switched to uncommitted after the former Florida governor exited the race.
Redfield said the convention delegations from the U.S. territories could maximize their leverage in a contested convention if they remain uncommitted and pool their votes. “If all of the territories vote as a bloc, that gives us a tremendous amount of firepower at the convention,” he said.
Amid all the charges and countercharges lobbed by the pro-Yob and anti-Yob factions, Canegata has sought to maintain neutrality — at least publicly. It’s possible that the courts could end up ruling that Yob was in fact ineligible to register to vote in time to run in the delegate elections.
In the meantime, the prospect that the Republican presidential primary is headed for a contested convention has set off quite a skirmish for such a small delegation.
“I’m the state chairman and I represent all Republicans,” Canegata said.
