In an extraordinary move, Republican candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich have announced an agreement to focus on certain states in upcoming contests. This would be an obvious attempt to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican nomination.
In this deal, Ted Cruz will focus on Indiana while Kasich will concentrate on Oregon and New Mexico. Indiana has 30 delegates up for grabs, while Oregon and New Mexico each have 28 delegates allocated proportionally. Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said that a Trump nomination would be “a sure disaster,” and added that:
“To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico.”
In a corresponding statement, Kasich’s chief strategist John Weaver further outlined this deal:
“Due to the fact that the Indiana primary is winner-take-all statewide and by congressional district, keeping Trump from winning a plurality in Indiana is critical to keeping him under 1,237 bound delegates before Cleveland. 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.”
Both Cruz and Kasich are mathematically unlikely to surpass Donald Trump in the race for delegates. They are therefore looking to take advantage of a contested Republican convention in Cleveland.
While delegates are bound by their state’s primaries or caucuses on the first ballot at the convention, they are free to vote with their conscience on the second. Cruz and Kasich believe they can sway delegates away from Trump this way.
GOP frontrunner Trump was quick to lambast this deal on Twitter. He called it “desperation:”
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
The deal between Cruz and Kasich will only be temporary, however, with Cruz’s campaign manager saying:
“In other states holding their elections for the remainder of the primary season, our campaign will continue to compete vigorously to win.”
Whatever the outcome of this arrangement, this has already been one of the most extraordinary Republican primary campaigns in a while.
Featured image via Video.
