North Dakota Republicans gathered today in Fargo to select the delegates the state will send to the GOP convention is July. As each delegate is unbound on the first ballot, it was crucial for candidates Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich to get their delegates elected today.
The verdict? It’s looking like Ted Cruz had a very, very good day with one estimate of 18 of the state’s 25 delegates as pro-Cruz folks:
https://twitter.com/rorycooper/status/716737822695288832
18/25 on Cruz's slate in ND but not clear how solid and for how many ballots: https://t.co/apMuWqtY24
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 3, 2016
My informal breakdown:
20 Cruz/NeverTrump
2 Gov/First Lady
2 Unknown
1 Trump/Kasich/highest bidder#NDGOP16— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) April 3, 2016
Latest from #NDGOP16, Cruz has won AT LEAST 18 of the 25 delegates chosen today, which gives him control of the… https://t.co/ECreAKDUow
— Rick Shaftan (@Shaftan) April 3, 2016
Ted Cruz declared victory in a statement from his campaign:
Cruz declares victory in ND pic.twitter.com/t9u7OufT9W
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) April 3, 2016
But as we said, these delegates are unbound and can change their mind at will. Senior adviser to the Kasich campaign Michael Biundo even thanked Cruz for getting some Kasich supporters elected on his slate:
.@ShaneGoldmacher I would like to thank the Cruz campaign electing a partial slate of delegates that has Kasich supporters on them.
— Michael Biundo (@MichaelBiundo) April 3, 2016
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How soon until we hear Cruz cheated?
https://twitter.com/chatainerobin/status/716747847727644674
We won’t know who these delegates are actually for, however, until the vote at the convention. There was a proposal to make the delegates declare their allegiance now, but it didn’t pass:
Chairman says the request for candidate allegiances is DENIED
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 3, 2016
As you can see, the vote was tense:
Vote part 2 pic.twitter.com/5EPovJFM6P
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 3, 2016
What the vote looked like pic.twitter.com/bBf6jtfXNF
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 3, 2016
And this is a good point to make: Barack Obama is president today because he understood the delegate game better than Hillary Clinton:
https://twitter.com/JayCostTWS/status/716754840605630464
Cruz gets it and Trump is playing catch up.
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