With the Republican Convention looming, the party’s establishment is scurrying to find a way to block front-runner Donald Trump from securing the nomination. With talks of a brokered convention dwindling as Trump is on track to reach the 1,237 necessary delegates to secure the nomination, two rival candidates, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, believe they have a solution to stop him.
Co-operation
The two have decided to work together, temporarily, to win a few states between them, keeping those delegates out of the hands of Trump.
“Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans,” Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said in a statement announcing the alliance. “Not only would Trump get blown out by [Hillary] Clinton or [Bernie] Sanders, but having him as our nominee would set the party back a generation.”
Indiana
Cruz is putting all his efforts into winning Indiana on May 3, a state he has a chance of taking while Kasich is going to focus his efforts on Oregon and New Mexico. This strategy will block Trump from receiving any delegates and set-back his chances of entering the convention with the nomination, according to the Kasich campaign.
“Keeping Trump from winning a plurality in Indiana is critical to keeping him under 1,237 bound delegates before Cleveland,” Kasich’s campaign said Sunday. “We are very comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana already, and given the current dynamics of the primary there, we will shift our campaign’s resources west and give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana.”
As of Monday morning, Trump has 845 delegates, Cruz has 559 and Kasich has 148. Kasich is still considered a long shot for the nomination, and Cruz is thought of by most as the most electable of the group since Marco Rubio left the race. Yet, in a bold move, as the possibility of the brokered convention looms, Rubio decided not to release his previously won delegates when he suspended his campaign, leaving many to believe that he will fight for the nomination if no one has secured the spot by the convention.
In a tweet following the Cruz and Kasich alliance, Trump called the party desperate. Trump has concluded that given the momentum and number of overall victories that he deserves the nomination at the convention, regardless of his delegate count.
Wow, just announced that Lyin' Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016
Lyin' Ted and Kasich are mathematically dead and totally desperate. Their donors & special interest groups are not happy with them. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016
