Trump Campaign Falters in Georgia Delegate Elections

Trump Campaign Falters in Georgia Delegate Elections

By Erin Dooley
Apr 17, 2016, 1:04 AM ET

Following Donald Trump's dismal outcome in Wyoming -- Ted Cruz swept all 14 delegate slots at stake in the state's Republican Party convention -- the GOP front-runner's campaign appeared to falter during delegate selections in Georgia, which elected 42 of its 76 national delegates Saturday in 14 congressional district conventions across the state.

The 3rd Congressional District, for example -- which cast 39 percent of its GOP vote for Trump in March -- will be sending three Cruz supporters to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. Though two of them will be bound to Trump on the first ballot -- the other is bound to Cruz -- all three told ABC News they will vote for the Texas senator on the second ballot.

Georgia's delegate system “favored a candidate that was thorough in its planning,” said Dale Jackson, a pro-Cruz delegated elected in Georgia's 3rd Congressional District Saturday. “I think Donald Trump is great at what he does. But government and business are two totally different things. I’m concerned that he is accustomed to getting what he wants. And that’s not the way things work in government.”

Brian Jack, Trump’s national delegate management director, said, "This is a very insider-driving process, which empowers well-connected elites at the expense of the people who cast their votes during the primary." He added that the campaign is investigating “concerns of delegate suppression” in several districts.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Trump supporters believe they garnered just over a dozen delegates statewide. In one district, Trump supporters appear to have stormed out, American flag in tow, after losing their delegate fight:

Statewide, “we did better than most expected in Georgia,” Trump campaign's Jack said. “Based on the outcome of today, we’re optimistic about our prospects at the State Convention in June, where we will ensure the people of Georgia’s voice an choice for president are heard, by sending Donald J. Trump supporters to the Republican National Convention.”

In the 3rd Congressional District, however, despite protests from several Trump supporters who felt they had no voice, the nominating committee proposed a slate of entirely Cruz supporters. Though a “unity slate” -- made up of two Trump supporters and one Cruz supporter, mirroring the district’s bound delegate allocation -– was proposed from the floor, the convention ultimately elected the nominating committee’s slate.

“I would say the Cruz campaign has been very thorough in their organization,” said Katie Frost, another 3rd Congressional District pro-Cruz delegate elected today. “When you look at someone like Donald Trump, his campaign has broken all the standard rules of a political campaign, so they may not have been as well prepared to go through the long process of precinct caucuses, country conventions, district, and state. When your M.O. is to come in and do a big rally, this takes a lot more legwork.”

To those who cry foul, delegate Jackson said: “The process has been in place for decades and decades. We didn’t use any procedural maneuvers today...the convention body voted, and they chose us, knowing good and well that we would support Cruz over Trump.”

“We do feel very encouraged,” Brant Frost, Cruz’s Georgia volunteer coordinator, told ABC News. “We feel very good about our victory tonight, and we feel confident that we have picked up many delegates.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump...ry?id=38458331

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Georgia's delegate system “favored a candidate that was thorough in its planning,” said Dale Jackson, a pro-Cruz delegated elected in Georgia's 3rd Congressional District Saturday. “I think Donald Trump is great at what he does. But government and business are two totally different things. I’m concerned that he is accustomed to getting what he wants. And that’s not the way things work in government.”

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That's certainly the way it's not been working in our country which is why voters are voting for Trump, because voters are sick and tired, fed up to the gills in fact, with the pot boiling over, on the issue of not getting what we want. We want good trade deals that benefit our country and citizens, and you're right, we've not been getting good beneficial trade deals from our government, apparently because "that's not the way things work in government." We want our borders secured, our immigration laws enforced, illegal aliens deported and this massive excess legal immigration reduced or paused, yet we aren't getting any immigration controls to speak of, apparently because "that's not the way things work in government."

I think these Cruz supporting delegates are revealing just exactly who Cruz appeals to, not voters, not people who want our immigration and trade problems solved, no, he appeals to political insiders, who want to defy the citizens of the United States, while wagging their finger at US explaining we don't get what we want because "that's not how things work in government."

Well, you big fat idiots, that's how it supposed to work. Americans are supposed to get what we want from government, and our candidates and officials are supposed to see that we do. That's what representative government is about.

It's just stunning to see and hear these political insiders claiming they're Republicans doing the exact opposite of what Republicans are supposed to do.

The only word for it is: shameful.

There's only one candidate in this race who gives a hoot about what the people of the United States want, and he is the only candidate willing and able to see that we do, and that candidate is Donald J Trump.

VOTE FOR TRUMP so we can start getting what we want from our government.

Trump supporters storm out of Georgia GOP convention carrying the American flag as Cruz backers are chosen as delegates despite The Donald's primary victory

Fourteen GOP conventions across the state were tasked with electing 42 of the state's 76 delegates who will go to the national convention

In most of the meetings, supporters of Ted Cruz swept most of the spots

At the Seventh District gathering, Debbie Dooley, a tea party organizer and Trump ally, was defeated in delegate bid

Following the results, a Trump supporter grabbed the room's American flag and several others stormed out of the convention hall

Thirty-one of Georgia's of the 76-delegate total will be chosen at the GOP convention in Augusta on June 3 and 4

Delegates have to vote per results of the March primary in the first round of voting, but if Trump doesn't receive the majority of votes there's a re-vote

During the re-vote they can vote for another Republican candidate

Supporters of presidential candidate Donald Trump stormed out of a GOP convention in Georgia carrying the hall's American flag after Ted Cruz backers were chosen as delegates despite the front runner's primary win.

Fourteen GOP conventions across the state were tasked with electing 42 of the state's 76 delegates who will go to Cleveland in July for the national convention. Each district chose three delegates and three alternatives.

In most of the meetings, supporters of Cruz swept most of the spots, while John Kasich and Trump, who won Georgia's primary on March 1, were left with few.

At the Seventh District gathering, Debbie Dooley, a tea party organizer and Trump ally, was defeated in delegate bid.

Following the results, a Trump supporter grabbed the room's American flag and several others stormed out of the convention hall.

In a video of the incident, what appears to be a security official, tries to stop them as several others in attendance watched, baffled at the event taking place.

One person can be heard clapping while several others head straight for the door at the back of the room.

In some areas of the state, however, Trump fared fairly well. He earned two delegates in the Second district, one in the Fourth and one in the 14th.

'This is a very insider-driven process, so it's naturally difficult for outsiders to affect the outcome,' Brian Jack, Trump's national delegate director, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 'We are investigating concerns of delegate suppression in a few Congressional district conventions, as we want to ensure everyone was treated fairly.'

He said that Trump 'did better than most expected in Georgia, earning a majority of supporters within our delegate slots'.

Republican operatives estimated that Trump received 12 or 14 delegates in Saturday's conventions, which is about one-third of the delegates that were up for grabs.

Cruz's campaign, however, grabbed at least 31 delegates on Saturday.

Thirty-one of Georgia's of the 76-delegate total will be chosen at the GOP convention in Augusta on June 3 and 4.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/...0906429048.jpg
Trump won the Georgia primary, but if the national convention goes into several rounds of voting, the delegates
of Georgia can vote for another candidate. Pictured above is a Trump rally in Hartford, Connecticut

This group often includes well-known officials and activists. In 2012, the list included Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Attorney General Sam Olens, House Speaker David Ralston, prominent tea party leader Julianne Thompson and Gov. Nathan Deal’s wife, Sandra Deal.

The only three delegates already determined are Republican National Committee members Randy Evans and Linda Herren and state GOP chairman John Padgett.

Delegates will have to vote in relation to the results of the March 1 primary in the first round of voting at the national convention.

But the state party only binds delegates to support Trump for the first ballot at the convention.

Any delegate may shift his or her support to any other GOP contender who might emerge if Trump can’t lock up the nomination before a second round of voting.

Preparing for that scenario, Ted Cruz supporters in Georgia are trying to secure want to secure as many of those spots as possible.

The Georgia results come as Trump prepares for Tuesday's primary in New York.

There are 95 delegates at stake in the Empire State, and it's important for Trump to win a big majority of them.

There are 14 statewide delegates and three delegates in each congressional district.

If a candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the statewide vote, he gets all 14 delegates. Otherwise, he has to share them with other candidates.

If a candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the vote in a congressional district, he gets all three delegates. Otherwise, again, he has to share.

Trump leads statewide in the most recent preference polls, with right around 50 per cent. New York is a large and diverse state, so he probably won't win all the congressional districts.

Let's say Trump does make it to 50 percent, but Kasich or Cruz wins five congressional districts; Trump will take 77 delegates on the night.

Trump's running delegate total is 821.

Trump supporters take American flag and walk out of GOP convention in Georgia as the front runner is stripped of most of the delegates he won in primary | Daily Mail Online

It's a very bad system that allows delegates to be bought up or unduly influenced by political insiders. It's just a strange and foreign type of system to use to select delegates in primary states where people voted, and for those states like Colorado which did away with the primary vote either through an election or a caucus and confined it to a Convention that people have to travel miles to attend and incur hotel bills and so forth just to vote in a system whee the outcome has been fixed by the party leaders is like something you would expect to see in third world communist countries.

To have state delegates who go against the stated choice of the voters in a primary or caucus is just unbelievable. I never knew this was going on in our party. It is an awful thing to learn about our party system, and Trump is right, it needs to be fixed. I don't guess it can be fixed for this Convention, but in the future it must be fixed. Hopefully, Trump can win enough votes from here on out to win the bound delegates in large enough quantity to overcome the ones Cruz is gathering up through the delegate system.

Here's the good news for Trump Supporters. If by some act of evil someone else wins the nomination, Trump still has the power and option to run third party. Obviously the other candidates aren't in that position.

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Trump still has the power and option to run third party.

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Strong possibility if this anti voter thievery continues.

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Originally Posted by artist

Strong possibility if this anti voter thievery continues.

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Definitely. And he would be justified in doing so. If he didn't win the most votes in the primary, if he didn't win the most states in the primary, and if he didn't have the most bound delegates, then I'd say, we gave it our best shot and lost. But that isn't what's happening here, it's a set up game through a shadow system controlled by the STOP TRUMP, NEVER TRUMP, ANYONE BUT TRUMP people in our party who want to keep open borders and free trade treason. So Trump and Trump Supporters are definitely in their rights to run a third party campaign to elect Trump so he can win and stop open borders and free trade treason.

Everyone needs to remember, there's only one reason we're in this situation and it's because of Trump's policies and plans regarding immigration and trade which current long-term policies of the Establishment that's behind this STOP TRUMP campaign have left 94 million working age adults out of the work force, flooded our country with probably 30 million illegal aliens, 42 million foreign born residents and almost $20 trillion and growing in national debt.

Trump Campaign Remains Confident After Ted Cruz Nabs More Delegates

By NICKI ROSSOLL
JESSICA HOPPER

Apr 17, 2016, 12:01 PM ET

Donald Trump's convention manager feels confident Trump can reach the 1,237 delegates needed for the Republican presidential nomination despite Texas Sen. Ted Cruz sweeping up 14 more delegates in Wyoming Saturday, yet another victory at a state convention where a disorganized Trump campaign was boxed out.

Paul Manafort told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that the Trump campaign “didn’t want to waste” its money in Wyoming, where it failed to provide a full slate of preferred delegates, only naming six of the possible 14.

“We didn't even play there because it was a closed system,” said Manafort, criticizing the state for not holding an open primary. “We didn’t want to waste our money and deal with the party bosses.”

Manafort maintained that despite another loss, Trump would have enough support to win the nomination before the convention.

"The real issue is there's not going to be a second ballot" at the convention, he said. "There is [sic] many paths to 1,237 for Donald Trump between now and the middle of June -- not July -- and we are working all of those paths."

Cruz’s delegate operations director, Ken Cuccinelli, countered that Trump’s campaign was whining in a later interview on the show.

“He didn’t even bother to compete,” he said. Trump didn’t just lose in Wyoming -- he got stomped -- and the same was true in Colorado.”

Trump has recently criticized the Republican National Committee for its process of choosing delegates, repeatedly calling the system “rigged” and forecasting a “rough July” at the convention is held if the process wasn’t changed. Manafort echoed the sentiment.

“What this election has shown is that when voters participate, Donald Trump wins,” he said. “When the bosses participate, Donald Trump's interests are not there because he's the outsider.”

Both the Cruz campaign and the Republican National Committee at large have countered those claims, saying the rules for each state have been clearly laid out and explained to the campaigns.

“We’ve been winning states, we’ve been winning delegate contests, we’ve been winning elections and when we win, Trump whines and you heard more of it from Mr. Manafort there this morning.” Cuccinelli said.

Trump’s campaign has accused the Cruz campaign of breaking the rules when it comes to the hunt for the delegates needed to secure the nomination. Manafort threatened that the campaign would be challenging some results.

“We’ll be filing protests. Missouri, we're going to be filing protests. Colorado, we're going to be filing protests,” Manafort said.

“We’re playing within the rules established a long time ago and motivating voters based on Ted’s vision,” said Cuccinelli, who, in turn, accused Trump’s campaign of using unsavory tactics to win delegates.

“How about calling for riots in the street? How about threats -- 'We’re going to go to the hotel rooms of delegates' -- death threats to the Colorado Republican chairman?” Cuccinelli said. “They keep using the rhetoric. This is a banana republic approach from the Trump team because they’re getting beat on the ground.”

Trump currently leads Cruz by 197 delegates, and polls show a majority of Republican voters believe that whoever has the most votes and delegates should win the nomination. But Cuccinelli pointed back at rules set by the Republican National Committee that require a nominee to have won a majority of the delegates.

“Football teams don’t get to get into the red zone and demand a touchdown and then cry about it when you don’t give them one, but that’s what we’re dealing with the Trump campaign,” he said. “Lots of football teams get into the red zone and lose and we’re aiming to win this by building up the number of voters who support Ted and he’s growing the coalition that he needs to win.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump...ry?id=38449319

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“We didn't even play there because it was a closed system,” said Manafort, criticizing the state for not holding an open primary. “We didn’t want to waste our money and deal with the party bosses.”

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I just don't understand these states that don't hold a primary in this day and age. I also don't understand a system that wants to be beholden to party bosses and political insiders when they are proving themselves the ones responsible for the terrible mess we're in.

None of us have understood why when we vote for and elect a candidate who says one thing, then gets in office and does another.

Well, now we know.