Donald Trump’s campaign is accusing Tennessee Republican Party leaders of trying to unfairly appoint delegates to the Republican convention that do not support the Republican front-runner.
“I can’t believe I’m writing this but the Tennessee Republican Party wants to STEAL your vote TODAY,” Dan Scavino, the campaign’s social media director, tweeted Saturday. “There is a small group of Tennessee establishment insiders pulling a fast one. DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN.”
“They want to appoint people who support Jeb Bush, John Kasich and others to represent the delegate slots that Donald Trump won on March 1 FAIR AND SQUARE,” he added.
Trump won Tennessee’s primary with 38.9% of the vote, capturing 33 of the state’s 58 pledged delegates. But under state party rules, the Tennessee GOP executive committee has the power to select the individuals who serve in 14 of these delegate slots at a previously scheduled meeting held Saturday.
In Tennessee, state rules offer delegates pledged to a candidate who has withdrawn from the race “the right to attend the convention.” But in the event they should choose not to travel, the state GOP chairman has the power to select a replacement.
Scavino said the Trump campaign worked with the state party to make sure that Trump supporters were fairly represented among the delegates. But he accused Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes of planning to change that and appoint delegates who do not support Trump.
Efforts to reach Haynes, whose cell phone mailbox was full after Scavino tweeted out his number, were not immediately successful.
But Brent Leatherwood, executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party, told CNN Saturday that the situation is still being worked out and that the party has been in conversations with all three Republican campaigns on the delegate process.
“I can say all three campaigns were consulted in the creation of this slate,” he said.
He added: “Instead of stirring up strife and grossly mischaracterizing the conversation that took place between (Trump Tennessee state director Darren) Morris and Chairman Haynes, let’s set the record straight. There was never an agreement, especially after the Trump campaign spoke dismissively about the party process and one of our female members. Regardless of that, the TNGOP will fill out the remaining delegate spots consistent with our bylaws, state law, and the results of the March 1st Presidential Primary. Despite what they are saying, state law mandates all delegates be bound to their respective candidate for two rounds of balloting at the Republican National Convention. There are no exceptions to that requirement.”
The Tennessean newspaper reported Saturday that dozens of Trump supporters could be seen protesting outside the Nashville office where the state GOP’s executive committee was meeting.
Haynes previously told CNN he received a letter from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign stating that his decision to suspend his campaign was “not intended to release any national convention delegates bound to me as a result of the 2016 delegate selection process that took place in your state.”
“It is my desire at this time that the delegates allocated to me by your rules remain bound to vote for me on at least the first nominating ballot at the national convention,” said the letter, which was signed in Rubio’s name.
