Donald Trump’s campaign manager accused the Republican Party of being “elitist” because of its rules for choosing delegates.
Delegates are chosen because they have given a lot of money to the party, said Corey Lewandowski, the controversial head of Trump’s populist campaign. His attack, during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” comes as Ted Cruz is winning extra delegates in states where Trump won the popular vote.
“Ted Cruz does well in places where party bosses set the rules and people don’t get to go and vote,” Lewandowski said.
Lewandowski charged that the Republican Party’s system for choosing delegates favors donors and not ordinary people.
“In some places those delegates are chosen based on how much money they have given to the party, whether they’ve run for statewide office and how much volunteering they have done,” he said. “I understand that those are the rules, but there are people out there who don’t have the privilege of writing a check to the state party.”
“That is everything that is wrong with the party system and that is everything that is wrong with the electoral system,” Lewandowski said.
Trump has slammed the party after losing 34 delegates in Colorado recently to his opponent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. He’s also complained about the delegate election process in Louisiana, Tennessee and elsewhere.
The party has pledged delegates that have to vote for the person that won the state on the first ballot at the convention and then those delegates become unbound on future ballots. Therefore, in the result of a contested convention who those delegates support could hold a major impact on the nominee for the party.
