As the possibility of a contested Republican convention brings increased importance to delegates, the Republican Party in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday replaced six elected delegates with alternates, citing a violation of state party rules.
The move is being challenged by the impacted delegates, all of whom ran as uncommitted to any of the Republican presidential candidates. John Yob, a veteran Republican operative who moved with his family to the USVI from Michigan last year, leads this slate. But if the ruling by the USVI GOP holds, New York celebrity businessman Donald Trump, the front-runner, and his main challenger, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, would each gain a convention delegate.
“Rule 11 automatically disqualifies and strikes from the Virgin Islands delegation to the Republican National Convention anyone who fails to comply with party rules,” John Canegata, the chairman of the USVI GOP, said in a press release. “The party rules commanded me to inform the Republican National Committee of this automatic action, which I did in a letter to chairman Reince Priebus.”
The candidate who gains the most by this action isn’t even a candidate anymore. Among the six elected alternate delegates elevated are two who ran as committed to Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who has since suspended his presidential campaign. Among the other four who were promoted, two are uncommitted, one is supporting Cruz, and one Trump.
The moves could matter if Cruz or Trump fail to garner 1,237 delegates by the time the last primary is held in June. If that’s the case, the Republican convention would be contested, with most delegates free to support whomever they choose after the first ballot on the convention floor. Yob said in a statement emailed to the Washington Examiner that he expects to have the matter cleared up and be reinstated.
“The chairman is not a dictator and can not unilaterally break the USVI GOP rules to hand select his preferred delegates. He has unfortunately decided once again to either not read the rules or not follow the rules,” Yob said. “We are confident we will be properly certified by the certification committee.”
This disagreement is yet another episode in an ongoing controversy involving the election of convention delegates to the GOP convention in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Forces aligned with and against Yob have been battling for the six elected delegate slots (there are nine total) in what could foreshadow a heated fight in Cleveland in July. Trump leads in the hunt for delegates over Cruz, 681 to 425.
