Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan say they are not worried about a GOP brokered convention in summer 2016.
“It hasn’t happened in a very long time and I think it’s highly unlikely to happen,” McConnell said Tuesday at an event hosted by Politico. “So, it’s an interesting thing to discuss but highly unlikely. I don’t have any worries about it.”
Republican National Committee officials were discussing as recently as last week the potential of a “brokered” or “contested” post-primary nominating process next year. This after Republican presidential primary front-runner Donald Trump — a business mogul constantly at odds with party leaders — has some of his strongest poll numbers ever just weeks before the first primaries.
Ryan also dismissed the idea as something he is not concerned about.
“I don’t think about stuff like that. And I’m not worried about that,” he said. “I’m busy working in Congress. I don’t think about stuff like that.”
The most recent “brokered” convention for Republicans was in 1948, when they chose New York Gov. Thomas Dewey though the last “contested” GOP primary was in 1976, between President Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.