GOP Delegate Drama

I hear from fellow Republicans all the time about how they are upset at the party leadership.  My response is always that I am not satisfied with the party leadership but that we need to bring more like-minded people into the process to change it.
The foundation for the Republican Party organization is built during odd-numbered years when most people aren’t focused on politics.  In South Carolina, we do our precinct re-organization meetings in Mar., hold our county conventions in April and elect state officers in May.  I like to tell people that those who show up can determine how things are run.
I decided in Jan. 2015 that I wanted to endorse a Presidential candidate and would not seek re-election as the Chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party.  I focused on increasing turnout at our precinct meetings and our county convention.  We organized dozens of new precincts and increased turnout at our county convention by more than 50%.
County GOP conventions elect delegates to the state convention in Columbia.  In Charleston County, we elected 49 delegates representing the 1st Congressional District and 13 delegates representing the 6th Congressional District.  The same number of alternates are elected in both districts and may be seated if delegates do not attend.
South Carolina’s Congressional District conventions will be held in April.  Each of our 7 Congressional Districts will be electing three delegates to the July 18-21 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.  The 1st Congressional District convention will start at 10 am Sat., Apr. 16 at Orange Grove Elementary Charter School, 1225 Orange Branch Rd. in West Ashley.  It is open to the public.
The South Carolina GOP convention will be held Sat., May 7 in Columbia.  There will be 26 at-large national delegates elected there.  The state’s two Republican National Committee members, who will be elected at the state convention, and state GOP Chair Matt Moore will be automatic national delegates.
All 50 South Carolina national delegates are obligated to vote for Donald Trump on the first ballot in Cleveland based on the Feb. 20 election results.  If Trump does not earn the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination going into the national convention, South Carolina’s 50 delegates may vote for the candidate of their choice on succeeding ballots.
The Republican Party has not had a contested Presidential nominating convention since 1976, when President Gerald Ford won a narrow victory over insurgent challenger Ronald Reagan on the second ballot.  Ford wound up losing to Democrat Jimmy Carter in the general election.
I was contacted by a reporter from the political website Politico about the South Carolina delegate selection process.  While I will not seek election as a national delegate, I will back Trump supporters in the 1st Congressional District.  A lot of the Trump supporters in the South Carolina primary were either first-time voters or first-time volunteers who were not involved in the Republican Party organization in 2015.  My hope is that they will participate in the 2017 precinct meetings and become part of the “GOP Establishment”.
National GOP delegates are elected in all 50 states, Washington, DC and five U.S. territories.  Interestingly, Puerto Rico elects more delegates (23) than several U.S. states.  Going into the Apr. 5 Wisconsin primary, the delegate county for the active candidates stood at 736 for Trump, 463 for Sen. Ted Cruz and 143 for Gov. John Kasich.  Sen. Marco Rubio, who suspended his campaign after losing his home state of Florida Mar. 1, has declared that he will not release his delegates at the national convention.
Under current Republican National Committee rules, a candidate can’t be considered for nomination unless he or she earned a majority of delegates in at least 8 states.  Unless that rule is changed prior to the 2016 national convention, Trump would be the only candidate in the field who currently qualifies.  As I told Politico, changing the rules and disenfranchising the millions of new voters who participated in the Republican primaries in 2016 would be a black eye for the party.
I predict Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination on the first ballot.  He holds large polling leads in delegate-rich primary states still on the calendar, such as New York, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  To those who don’t like the process, I suggest you get more people to participate in it.  We get the government we deserve.
John Steinberger is the former chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party, a leading Fair Tax advocate, and a West Ashley resident. He can be reached at John.steinberger@scfairtax.org.