Ted Cruz is well positioned to beat Donald Trump for delegates in Colorado.
The Texas senator appears to have more supporters than the billionaire front-runner does among delegate candidates. The battle for the Republican presidential nomination looks increasingly likely to leave neither with a majority of delegates at the end of primary season, which could turn the GOP convention into a titanic fight.
The next primary is in Wisconsin on April 5, and after that it’s Colorado. There, 34 of the 37 convention delegates up for grabs will be directly elected in a series of local contests beginning early next month. Of those, 21 are elected three per congressional district. Based on a review of the pledged candidates running in two of the districts, Cruz has the edge over Trump.
“If you look at the current pledged delegates, Ted Cruz had more pledged delegates than anybody,” Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “I think that’s relevant.”
House, who as state chairman is an unpledged delegate to the Cleveland convention, including on the first ballot, said that he has not yet decided whether to support Cruz, Trump or Ohio Gov. John Kasich. House said he has not been contacted by any of the campaigns, but expects that to change.
Republican insiders in Colorado say that comparing the number of delegate candidates that are “pledging” to support each presidential contender could offer a glimpse into which of them might emerge from the state GOP’s delegate elections with the largest slate. Those elections run April 2-8, with a final election for an additional 12 at-large delegates set for the April 9 state party convention in Colorado Springs.
Based on the list of candidates running in the 1st and 6th congressional districts, Cruz was poised to win the most delegates.
In both districts, a combined 32 candidates are running that have pledged their loyalty to Cruz; only 20 candidates are pledging loyalty to Trump. Kasich is fielding just one delegate candidate, combined, in each of the districts. Cruz is heading to Colorado on April 9, to speak at the state party convention and try and seal the deal.
Lists of candidates vying for the delegate slots in the other five congressional districts, as well as the at-large spots, were due out as early as Tuesday. The number of candidates seeking the 34 available delegate positions was expected to top 1,000, Colorado GOP officials said.
The Cruz campaign did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on its strategy to elect loyal Colorado delegates. House said that the senator has thus far been more active there than have Trump or Kasich.
“All of the campaigns are asking for lists of all of the delegates,” House said. “They are badgering us on a daily basis.”
House said that campaigns serious about winning delegates would deploy high profile surrogates to stump for votes at the upcoming contests. Working on behalf of Cruz is Rep. Ken Buck, a candidate running for a delegate slot in the 4th district that he represents in Congress. That could be a huge boost to Cruz.
Meanwhile, an examination of the candidates running for delegate in congressional districts 1 and 6 shows that most are running as “unpledged’ to any presidential contender. That means they would be free to vote for whomever they want on the first ballot on the convention floor. That alone could complicate Trump’s drive for the 1,237 delegates he needs to avoid a contested convention. Pledged Colorado delegates are only bound on the first ballot.
Trump leads Cruz in the overall hunt for delegates, 736 to 463. Kasich trails with 143.
