PHILADELPHIA — Ted Cruz’s days of answering for the phrase “New York values” is over and now he hopes to shift his attention to more favorable territory — grabbing delegates in Pennsylvania.
No matter how he finishes next Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s primary, Cruz and his army of supporters expect him to rack up delegates thanks to a meticulous ground game and grassroots conservative energy. It worked in Colorado and Wyoming.
A report emerged early Tuesday that of the 54 unbound delegates coming from the Keystone State, Cruz’s campaign expects to rack up about 30 in yet another state with an unconventional delegate selection process.
Of the 71 delegates handed out next Tuesday, only 17 are handed over directly to the state’s winner, with the remaining 54 delegates — three per congressional district — elected in down ballot races. Last Friday, the Cruz campaign released their preliminary slate of 28 delegate candidates, something neither the Trump or the Kasich campaigns have done yet.
Lowman Henry, who serves as Cruz’s campaign chairman in the Keystone State, believes Pennsylvania will be a key state in an effort to stop Donald Trump’s rising delegate count and help deliver the nomination to the Texas senator.
“The key [to the delegate count] is organization. I know some candidates who we shall not name like to whine about the rules. But in Pennsylvania, we knew what the rules were for electing delegates,” Henry told reporters prior to Cruz’s Tuesday event. “So last year, over the holidays, we spent time recruiting delegate candidates, getting them on the ballot in January and February — so we have our people.
“What you’re going to see is probably a fairly even split in Pennsylvania with Ted Cruz having perhaps the most committed delegates, Donald Trump second and then a big block of sort of uncommitted,” Henry said, noting that all delegates in the state technically run as “uncommitted” on the ballot. “So we’re probably going to go to the convention with one of the largest blocks of uncommitted delegates of any state.”
Henry also made clear that the state’s delegate allocation serves a real purpose — to give the state an pre-eminent role at July’s convention in Cleveland. In recent weeks, Trump has loudly proclaimed that these delegate allocations are part of a “rigged” process against him, which Cruz has pushed back against vociferously, most recently during an interview Tuesday on Sean Hannity’s radio program.
“If you look at the Pennsylvania system where our delegates are technically uncommitted — now, we’ve had this system going back at least to 1960, so it’s not anything new. But the whole purpose behind the uncommitted nature behind Pennsylvania’s delegates is to increase Pennsylvania’s clout at the national convention,” said Henry. “So back 60 years ago when it was developed, that was what the party leaders wanted. They wanted an unbound delegation so they could go to a national convention and be king makers — to wheel and deal.”
“Now, of course this time around, we’re going to have a bloc that’s going to be committed to us,” he continued. “Donald will have a bloc committed to him, maybe one or two that will go to Kasich, but there still will be a large uncommitted bloc. That’s why the system was designed in Pennsylvania the way it has been. Now, it hasn’t been in play since 1976, but yes, we’re going to have one of the largest uncommitted delegations that’s really going to enhance Pennsylvania’s role.
Henry, who chairs the Lincoln Institute in Harrisburg, explained that the campaign plans to make sure their supporters know exactly who to vote for — but declined to say exactly how they would do so.
“Stay tuned. I don’t want to tell you exactly what we’re doing because Donald Trump will tune into your network,” Henry told Fox News’ John Roberts. “We are going to be employing a number of campaign tactics on behalf of our delegates.”
Cruz’s election night speech Tuesday was only his second stop in Pennsylvania overall, having spoken nearly three weeks ago at the PA Leadership Conference, organized by Henry, outside of Harrisburg. He is also set to campaign in Hershey on Wednesday morning.
