The delegate-led effort to stop Donald Trump from receiving the Republican nomination for president continues to grow. That’s according to participants in a conference call Sunday evening that coordinated efforts from activists and Republican National Committee delegates who oppose Trump’s nomination.
The call, organized by Colorado activists Kendal Unruh and Regina Thomson, featured a variety of updates about the state of the project to use the RNC’s rules to stop Trump’s upcoming nomination at the convention. The umbrella group, Free the Delegates 2016, argues that a fair reading of party rules and state laws across the country give national convention delegates the ability to “vote their consciences” on the first ballot. The confederation of activists and delegates hope to have influence on both the RNC rules committee as well as the actual convention floor to show the party faithful they have the option to vote how they see fit—and, hopefully, against Trump.
“The movement is growing. The more we talk about it, the more delegates talk with each other, the more courage they get,” Unruh said on the call.
Those involved in the effort appeared to come from several camps and wings of the broader conservative movement. Among the speakers in Sunday’s call were former New Hampshire senator Gordon Humphrey (who endorsed John Kasich in the primary), activist James Lamb (who supported Marco Rubio), and Iowa radio host Steve Deace and New Jersey politician Steve Lonegan (who both endorsed Ted Cruz). Much of the call involved updates on various parts of the project, such as a Virginia activist challenging his state’s laws on bound delegates. There were also plenty of words of encouragement to the delegates, whose effort has earned harsh criticism from RNC and state party leaders.
“The strategy that we’ve embraced, insisting on rules…It’s an eminently respectable strategy,” said Humphrey, “I’m proud to be a part of it, and I want to encourage everyone to continue the struggle until the gavel comes down in Cleveland.”
But the clear leader on the call was Unruh, a history teacher and party activist who has become a chief evangelist for unbinding delegates. On Sunday’s call, she declared the unbound delegate movement is “on the right side of history.” Unruh is a disciple of RNC member Curley Haugland of North Dakota, who has long argued for delegates should vote their consciences and has even released a free e-book on the idea.
In an interview with Yahoo! News, Unruh explained how the movement is growing:
And Unruh claims she has a significant number of delegates, some public and some not, who have committed to the cause:
The whole interview is worth a read to understand the details of how the process would work in Cleveland.
In her concluding remarks on the Sunday conference call, Unruh cited the uptick in media interest in the story as a sign the group should keep pressing and keep working.
“We are now mainstream. We are not the fringe,” she said.
