Virginia delegation joins short-lived convention revolt over RNC rules
Last edited Tue Jul 19, 2016, 12:47 PM - Edit history (3)
Virginia delegation joins short-lived convention revolt over RNC rules
Posted: Monday, July 18, 2016 10:30 pm
By GRAHAM MOOMAW Richmond Times-Dispatch
gmoomaw@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6839
@gmoomaw
CLEVELAND Virginia was among a handful of states that tried to upend the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday only to be overruled by the combined forces of Donald Trump and national party officials amid chaos on the convention floor.
Former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the chairman of Virginias group of 49 delegates who became a public face of the short-lived insurgency, was seen throwing his credentials in disgust amid raucous shouting on the convention floor. A mix of die-hard Trump opponents and grass-roots activists worked much of the day to build support to force a roll-call vote on convention rules, which some saw as a final chance to stop Trumps nomination. ... Roaring applause and boos broke out after the presiding convention official Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas deemed the rules adopted on a voice vote. Supporters of a roll-call vote thought they had the seven state delegations needed to bring the issue to the floor, but Womack said three states had backed off after enough delegates recanted.
Mobbed by reporters on the convention floor, Cuccinelli said Virginia delegates and others had been subjected to intimidation tactics and threats of political ruin by those seeking to stop a full rules vote. Cuccinelli said more than 30 of Virginias 49 delegates, a majority, supported a new vote on rules, and none switched their positions under pressure. ... This is petty, tyrannical politics, said Cuccinelli, who didnt rule out the idea of some Virginia delegates walking out of the convention in protest, saying he can understand it when youre being stepped upon.
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Cuccinelli, who led the national delegate strategy for Ted Cruz before the Texas senator dropped out of the race, said he and others were trying to change technical rules for the 2020 presidential contest to favor grass-roots power over centralized party control. The push for a roll-call vote aligned with anti-Trump forces who were searching for a way to throw the nomination into doubt, but Cuccinelli said that wasnt the driving force for most in the Virginia delegation.