Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump was crushed when it came to delegates during Washington State’s GOP Convention this weekend.
Despite being the only man standing in his party’s primary, Trump lost 40 of 41 of the state’s GOP delegates went to Texas Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore]. Cruz suspended his campaign immediately after he lost the Indiana primary to Trump earlier this month.
According to The Seattle Times, even Trump’s state campaign chairman, state Sen. Don Benton, did not manage to win a delegate post.
“The presidential race is its own deal,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant said to The Times after his Friday-night speech.
Even though Republican leaders called for unity to beat Democrats, statewide Republican candidates were reportedly publicly saying they would not be able to support Trump at the convention or not talk about him at all.
Although the state convention results are a blow to the Trump campaign and the GOP’s efforts for party unity going forward, Washington State GOP delegates are bound on the first ballot and the Tuesday’s state primary will decide who those delegates will be mandated to vote for in that first round. Without a second ballot likely to happen, Cruz delegates’ efforts are reportedly being targeted to ensure the GOP platform remains philosophically conservative.
Trump received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association on Friday at the organization’s annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Recognizing that many NRA members may also not be satisfied still with Trump as the nominee, Chris Cox, the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director, told members,”If your preferred candidate dropped out of the race, it’s time to get over it.”
Cox later told The Daily Caller, “You know the truth is, with 17 candidates, over the past year NRA members were with different candidates at different times. What we know with 100 percent certainty is that Hillary Clinton would be an absolute 100 percent mitigated disaster when it comes to the Second Amendment.”
“And the stakes with Justice Scalia’s passing and that fifth majority vote being gone for the basic right to own a firearm, the stakes couldn’t be higher,” he added.