Force rules vote

Never Trump delegates have support needed to force rules vote

Party leaders are hoping to divide a divisive floor vote.

By Kyle Cheney

 Republicans looking to unseat Donald Trump as their party’s presidential nominee appear to have the signatures they need to force a full vote on the national convention rules, a move that threatens to disrupt the party’s national convention and provide a platform for anti-Trump delegates to embarrass the billionaire on the eve of his official nomination.

Forcing a vote on the rules would temporarily throw the convention into a lobbying frenzy, with delegates hoping to deny Trump the nomination work to convince a majority of the convention’s 2,472 delegates to reject the party’s rules and adopt new language that would help them sideline Trump.

Though the effort is extremely unlikely, a vote will still display the lingering anti-Trump sentiment in the party — likely from hundreds of delegates — at a time GOP leaders and the Trump campaign are struggling to project unity.

Forcing a roll call vote requires support from the majorities of seven delegations. According to documents provided to POLITICO, the anti-Trump delegates have a majority of signatures from at least 9: Colorado, Washington state, Utah, Minnesota, Wyoming, Maine, Iowa, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The also claimed that Alaska had provided signatures as well.

“It’s a testament to the strength of this movement,” said Dane Waters, an operative with Delegates Unbound, a group supporting the anti-Trump effort.

The group says former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey has submitted the signatures to the convention secretary — an exchange that followed after a frantic search to find the secretary before the deadline to submit the signatures. Never Trump leaders raised concerns that the secretary, Susie Hudson of Vermont, might intentionally avoid them to ensure the effort was defeated.

The anti-Trump movement appears to have been the benefit of a furious backlash by conservative delegates against the Trump campaign and GOP leadership.

The activists saw their proposals — many of which were intended to push the party to the right — to reform the party’s rules squashed last week by a relentless Trump campaign and Republican National Committee combined effort to fend off significant changes. Virginia delegates Morton Blackwell and Ken Cuccinelli, conservative leaders who had opposed efforts to stymie Trump, joined the effort to help overturn the rules.

If the rules package were defeated, anti-Trump delegates would attempt to introduce language intend to free delegates to reject the results of primaries and caucuses in order to rebel against Trump.

The RNC and Trump campaign have been working to avoid such a vote, hoping to present a united front at the convention. One RNC member, observing the frenetic whip effort, suggested that there were still opportunities to deny a vote, and he questioned whether some of the signatures were valid.

If the floor vote does occur, House Speaker Paul Ryan appears likely to not have to preside over it.

Ryan is the Republican National Convention Chairman, but for upcoming rule votes, the Trump campaign has tapped Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas, who has a reputation for being able to manage tough floor issues, sources told POLITICO.