Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that the prospect of a “white knight” parachuting in at a contested GOP convention to emerge as the Republican nominee simply isn’t going to happen, saying delegates and Republicans voters aren’t going to stand for it.
“You know this fevered pipe dream of Washington [that] at the convention they will parachute in some white knight who will save the Washington establishment — it is nothing less than a pipe dream. It ain’t gonna happen,” Mr. Cruz told reporters in Wisconsin, where he’s campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
“If it did, the people would quite rightly revolt,” he said. “If Washington said, ’You know what? We had elections in 50 states, but we the dealmakers don’t care what the people actually voted for — we have someone else who’s going to go along and get along and keep the cronyism going,’ the voters would naturally say ’to heck with you — we’re staying home.’ “
Some Republicans are holding out hope that in the event of a contested convention in Cleveland in July, someone not currently in the race could emerge as a consensus candidate if multiple ballots fail to produce a nominee.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan has consistently ruled out accepting the nomination in such a scenario. But he continues to get asked about it, including in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt that aired Monday while Mr. Ryan was on a trip to Israel.
“Are some folks in Washington foolish enough to do that anyway? Probably. But they can’t do it,” Mr. Cruz said. “If over 80 percent of the delegates are Cruz delegates and Trump delegates, under what universe do a thousand Trump delegates or a thousand Cruz delegates go vote for some uber-Washington lobbyist who hasn’t been on the ballot? That’s simply not gonna happen.”
Mr. Cruz said his campaign still has a “clear path” to winning the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the convention, saying that’s his “plan A.”
He said in the event of a contested convention, he believes he’ll be in a “very, very strong” position to earn a majority from the elected delegates.
He said only he and Mr. Trump will have met the threshold of winning a majority of delegates in eight states required to be considered for the nomination under a rule passed for the 2012 convention.
“If there’s a contested convention, 80 percent of the delegates are going to be Cruz delegates or Trump delegates,” he said. “Both Donald and I have been very clear — we shouldn’t be changing the rules because Washington is unhappy with how the people are voting.”
He said the rule was adopted in 2012 to minimize the role of former Texas Rep. and 2012 presidential candidate Ron Paul at the Republican convention in Tampa.
“Now that the rule is viewed as inconvenient to the Washington establishment, they want to get rid of it,” Mr. Cruz said. “Well, you know what? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. The rules are the rules. And if you want to win, win at the ballot box.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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