The Republican National Committee won’t take up any rule changes governing presidential nominations during their winter meeting, despite calls from some Trump supporters to protect the president from a primary challenge in 2020.
In a late Friday email, the chairman of the standing committee on rules, Jeff Kent of Washington state, alerted RNC members that no rules changes would be undertaken when RNC members gather for their annual winter meeting in New Mexico. Instead, he said any possible changes would have to wait until next year.
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“As a reminder, the RNC is not amending any rules between now and the convention. The RNC Rules Committee can consider possible amendment recommendations that will then be passed along to the full RNC at the 2020 Summer Meeting and then to the 2020 Convention Rules Committee,” Kent wrote in the email.
Some Republicans have been discussing whether the rules should be amended to protect Trump from a primary challenger and whether that process should begin soon.
It’s highly unlikely a Republican could oust Trump in a primary. The president commands the broad support of the GOP grassroots — activists and the voters most likely to vote in a primary.
But under current rules, all it would take for a primary challenger to have their name placed in nomination on the convention floor in Charlotte would be to win a plurality of votes in primaries in five states or U.S. territories, or Washington, D.C.
The issue gained steam this week after Mitt Romney, the Republicans’ 2012 presidential nominee, published a searing attack on Trump in a Washington Post op-ed just hours before he was sworn in as Utah’s junior senator. One RNC member proposed changing the rules to block potential primary challengers, such as Romney, from being able to challenge the president’s nomination.
The fallout from Romney’s op-ed could result in the RNC passing a resolution reaffirming its support for Trump in 2020 when elected committee members convene for their winter meeting. One source connected to the RNC said it’s possible the committee could also vote on a resolution rebuking Romney.
Despite the RNC’s Friday email, It remains possible that rules changes could be discussed informally in New Mexico. Any amendment suggestions could eventually be recommended to the special rules panel that will meet the week before the Charlotte convention to set the final rules governing the official nomination.
But some Republicans who believe the RNC should have acted more aggressively to protect Trump argue it would be too late by then if a primary challenger actually wins enough votes in the 2020 GOP primary to have his or her name placed in nomination on the convention floor.
“Who is going to support amending the rules that everyone will have competed and played under for almost two years during the final week of the 2020 campaign when they aren’t willing amend the rules now and prevent any problems?” a former RNC official said. “If you have a problem you can solve before it happens you solve it. You don’t kick the can down the road, unless you’re a ‘Never Trumper’ or your want a Plan B.”
