For Ted Cruz, winning the Republican nomination might not hinge on his public campaign —but instead, the work that’s going on behind the scenes.
Sen. Cruz is in Wisconsin where he’s held dozens of rallies ahead of the April 5 Republican Primary. The Junior Senator has been on the campaign trail for about a year but back in his home state of Texas, the Cruz camp is quietly but noticeably shifting gears.
Texas Chairman for the Cruz campaign, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said, “They are calling people all across the country to say ‘would you please run for a delegate in your state and will you pledge you support to me’ if it goes to a second ballot.”
In most states, the duly elected delegates are free to pick the candidate of their choice after the first vote on at the Republican National Convention.
At that point, the delegates hold all the power which is why Cruz wants to stack the deck of delegates with his supporters.
“Trump will obviously be doing the same thing,” Patrick said, “I just don’t think Trump really understands the rules at this point.”
Trump met with the Chief of the Republican National Committee in Washington D.C. Thursday. CNN reports a GOP source said the meeting was about the rules and delegates at the party’s National Convention in July.
“Donald Trump is not going to be the nominee,” Cruz said, “We are going to beat him for this nomination.”
Cruz would have to win nearly 90 percent of the remaining delegates to reach the majority required to clinch the GOP nomination.
“That’s just not going to happen, and Trump needs about 60 percent and that’s not going to happen either,” said Ohio Governor John Kasich.
In a distant third, it’s mathematically impossible for Kasich to win the GOP nomination outright—there are not enough delegates left. With 18 Primaries to go and more than 700 delegates on the table, Kasich said, “Nobody’s going to have enough votes going into the Convention.”
Between the three Republican candidates, Kasich is the only one looking forward to the Convention in Cleveland.
If the Republican Party changes the rules, an open contest could take this race back to the starting line.
The Cruz campaign is open to the idea of an open or contested contest but Cruz has made it clear he does not want a brokered contest.
If the rules are changed and there is a brokered contest, Cruz is concerned that brokers for the party could try to parachute in another candidate into the mix of presidential hopefuls.
As the rules stand now, a candidate must get the support of the majority of delegates in at least eight states to get their name on the first ballot vote. Trump is the only candidates to surpass that threshold thus far, but Cruz is close and will likely hit that benchmark before July.
Wisconsin, a state worth 47 delegates, is a key primary for Cruz to win.
Lt. Gov Patrick said, “If Ted wins Wisconsin, it almost assuredly puts us on a path to stopping Donald Trump from getting 1,237 before the convention.”
According to the party’s rules, the first candidates to get the majority—1,237 delegates—wins the contest and the party’s nomination.
“Republicans are uniting behind this campaign,” Cruz said.
There are signs the so-called Republican “establishment” has started to embrace Cruz—a candidate who was considered to be too conservative for the mainstream.
