Republican groups opposed to Donald Trump are booking tickets to Cleveland and devising plans to topple the front-runner at the convention.
#NeverTrump, the youngest of the three super PACs working to block the businessman from the Republican nomination, is developing a digital strategy to influence convention delegates in a multi-ballot floor fight. The planning represents an escalation by anti-Trump forces. Until now, their focus has been on swaying GOP primary voters.
“We’re talking with delegate experts and working with data folks to look for opportunities for movement on the second ballot. How would a floor strategy look?” said Rory Cooper, senior adviser to #NeverTrump.
Trump led in delegates over Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, 736-463, but could fall short of a majority before the primary season ends in June. He needs 1,237 to clinch, and his lead was poised to drop further with a likely Cruz victory in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio is running a distant third, with 143 delegates.
In a contested convention, most delegates are only bound to the candidate that won the primary or caucus in their state on the first ballot on the convention floor. Some state Republican parties bind delegates on the first two ballots, and a few — like Florida — do so on the first three. Other states, like Colorado and North Dakota, don’t bind their delegates at all.
Recognizing this, the campaigns are seeking to influence the delegate selection process. Some states permit candidates to appoint delegates, but most fill their slates through elections, typically dominated by grassroots activists. Groups aligned against Trump have figured this out, and expanded their portfolio to encompass delegate contests.
This past weekend, Our Principles PAC, the most financially flush of the ant-Trump groups, deployed a team to Fargo, N.D., to work the state GOP convention, where 25 Cleveland delegates were elected (the state GOP isn’t holding a presidential preference primary this cycle.) The organization is taking credit for helping to produce a North Dakota convention slate that is predominantly pro-Cruz.
“This campaign is coming down to a ground game battle for delegates. We will fight for every last delegate vote all the way to Cleveland,” Brian Baker, senior adviser to OPP, said in a statement.
Our Principles PAC said it distributed more than 1,000 pieces of literature to Fargo conventioneers, and hit them with targeted advertising. Potential convention goers were contacted directly prior to the event, and blitzed with information critical of the front-runner.
As #NeverTrump plans for Cleveland, it continues to build its presence in the primaries.
Smaller in scale than OPP, which is overseen by a former aide to 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and has spent millions in television advertising, #NeverTrump is hyper-focused on digital micro-targeting and turnout. The group utilizes Google, Facebook, Twitter and will soon expand to Instagram and Snapchat. It’s led by Republican digital strategists Mindy Finn and Patrick Ruffini.
In Wisconsin, #NeverTrump has worked to identify the anti-Trump voting universe and turn them out to vote for Cruz, who has the best chance of maximizing delegates in a GOP primary that will award them based on winning statewide and in each congressional district. In other states, where Kasich might have an advantage, #NeverTrump plans to push voters to the Ohio governor.
“Our overarching goal is to deny Donald Trump from getting 1,237 delegates on the first ballot in Cleveland,” Cooper said. “We’re willing to support Ted Cruz or John Kasich, depending on who has a chance to earn delegates.”
