After Candidates Back Off Loyalty Pledge, RNC Chair Says 'Tone and Tenor Matter'
The RNC chair was interviewed on "This Week."
— -- It isn’t over until it’s over.
It was another bruising week in the race for the GOP nomination. And while a contested convention seems more and more likely, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says nothing is final until all the votes are counted.
“We will know where everyone stands on delegates on June 8, after the June 7th primaries.” Priebus said Sunday on ABC’s "This Week." “There will be no mystery over who has the majority, or if someone doesn’t, whether it’s going to be an open convention. If it’s an open convention, then we’re going to have be clear, open, and transparent on what the rules say and how they’re administered.”
Addressing worries that delegates could be “stolen,” Priebus ruled out the possibility that bound delegates could go rogue and vote for any candidate they wished, explaining that “the secretary will read the vote as if they were bound, regardless.”
But if a candidate did fail to reach the all important threshold of 1,237 delegates, the RNC chairman admitted those pledged delegates would be up for grabs after the first vote of the convention -- opening the nomination up to Trump's opponents or even a dark horse outside candidate.
"Generally, everyone is bound on the first ballot. In some states, they’re bound on a couple votes. But you’re right that on the second or third ballot, more and more delegates are unbound and they can vote for who they want," Priebus said Sunday.
Even a person not currently in the race could become the party nominee, Priebus suggested, provided there is enough support.
Priebus' comments come in a week where candidates Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich backed off the loyalty pledge they made to support the GOP candidate, with Donald Trump even saying he isn’t ruling out a third-party run.
But Priebus says he’s not convinced by the threat.
“I think candidates are also posturing. I think they’re posturing for the possibility of an open convention. I think some candidates think that there’s leverage to be had over making these kinds of statements. There’s no leverage over us,” Priebus said.
Priebus also weighed in on Donald Trump’s controversial abortion comments this week, saying it could impact his favorability with female GOP voters.
"Those kinds of comments I think have consequences. And so when you make those kinds of comments, and you want people to fall in line for you, it makes it more difficult."
But despite the wild week, Preibus says that none of it will impact the convention.
“We’re going to administer the convention the same way. And if the candidate can get to a majority on their own, then they’re going to be nominee, but no amount of leverage and statements are going to change it.”
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