CLEVELAND – A group of rebel delegates mounting a last-ditch effort to change the binding of delegates on the convention floor were slammed by their pro-Donald Trump counterparts on Monday.
Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told Virginia delegates hours before the GOP convention gaveled to order on Monday that he planned to force a roll call vote on the rules package passed by members of the Republican National Convention Rules Committee late last week. The existing rules prevent bound delegates from “voting their conscience” — or unbinding to support another candidate on the convention floor — to deny Trump the nomination.
To get a roll call vote, Cuccinelli and his allies would have to secure signatures from a majority of seven state’s delegations. Those involved in the effort said they had submitted the necessary number of signatures to the convention secretary, though it remains unclear whether they have enough votes to win the roll call vote.
“California has 172 reasons why that won’t be successful,” Tim Clark, the director of Trump’s California campaign operation, told the Washington Examiner on the convention floor.
“I think it’s just foolishness and our delegation is the biggest delegation in the nation. We will stand as a firewall against that nonsense,” Clark said, predicting that “Mr. Cuccinelli is going to find he has very little support on this floor everywhere.”
Sitting across from the California delegation on the opposite side of the red and blue carpet, Virginia delegate Elizabeth Butler accused the rebel delegates of ignoring the real “grassroots.”
“They say they’re the grassroots and they want a vote on our rules. I am a Trump voter, I like the rules and I am the grassroots. We are the grassroots,” said Butler.
Christopher Harvey, a Texas delegate bound to Ted Cruz, called the effort “a waste of time.”
“The nominee has already been picked by the American people. If they try, we’ll just vote it down and move on,” Harvey said, shaking his cowboy hat to emphasize his frustration.
“This is where we find ourselves and I’m not going to be a disruptor. I think it’s wrong,” added Dave Spence, a Missouri delegate who’s pledged to Trump. “[Trump] beat 16 people fair and square and I think the people need to grow up and move on.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is expected to return to the convention floor around 4 p.m. ET to hold a voice vote on the rules package.
