Mitt Romney advised Republicans to vote for whichever candidate “has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state,” which could take the Republican Party to a contested convention in July.
“Frankly, the only serious policy proposals that deal with a broad range of national challenges we confront today come from [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore], [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore], and John Kasich,” he said during a high-profile speech in Salt Lake City Thursday. “One of these men should be our nominee.”
A contested convention could happen if Trump fails to reach the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination on the first ballot of delegate voting. Delegates are not bound to vote according to their states’ preference after the first ballot and could conceivably switch their vote to a candidate other than Trump. AUDIO: Graham: Brokered Convention Would Be Unfair To Trump
“Now, I know that some people want this race to be over,” he continued. “They look at history, and say ‘a trend like Mr. Trump’s isn’t going to be stopped.’ Perhaps, but the rules of political history have pretty much all been shredded during this campaign.”
“If the other candidates can find some common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism.” Given the current delegate selection process, that means that I’d vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whoever has the best chance to beating Mr. Trump in a given state.”