Florida Sen. [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore] will not release any delegates awarded to him during his run for the presidency who are bound on the first ballot, NBC News reports.
Rubio aide Alex Burgos told MSNBC that although Florida Republican is “no longer a candidate,” he “wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump.”
Traditionally, candidates who suspend their campaigns release Republican National Committee convention delegates, but Rubio sent a letter to 21 GOP state and territory party chairmen informing them of his decision to keep delegates he won bound to him on the first nominating ballot.
Rubio won 164 delegates during his run for the White House, and 92 of his delegates are bound to him for at least one ballot, while 29 are not.
Forty of Rubio’s bound delegates — those he won in Iowa, Texas, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Washington, D.C. and Georgia — must stay with him on the first ballot, National Review points out.
While nine Tennessee delegates of Rubio’s are bound for two ballots, thirty-four delegates from Nevada, Oklahoma, Kansas, Alabama and Massachusetts are bound to the Florida senator until he formally decides to release them.
The Alaska GOP, according to NBC News, agreed to grant Rubio’s request.
“Rubio said, ‘I want my delegates,’ and I said, okay,” retired Army Col. Peter Goldberg, Chairman of the Alaska Republican Party said.
Goldberg told NBC he spoke to RNC officials in Washington, who told him other state committees are looking at their rules as well and deciding how to handle Rubio’s delegates.
“They said some are trying to figure it out,” Goldberg said. “Most states are leaning towards giving [Rubio] his delegates.”