Free the Delegates was an American political effort within the Republican Party, formed in June 2016 by delegate and Rules Committee member Kendal Unruh to the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party (United States), Republican Party chose the party's nominees for President of the United States, president and Vice President of the United Sta ...

(July 18–21, 2016) with the goal of nominating a candidate other than

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, who won a plurality of primary votes and pledged delegates. By June 19, hundreds of delegates to the Republican National Convention had begun raising funds and recruiting members in support of an effort to persuade the party convention rules committee to free delegates to vote as they individually wished, rather than according to the results of state caucuses and primaries.

History

The movement was founded and launched in June by a delegate and RNC rules committee member, Kendal Unruh, with a nationwide conference call connecting 30 convention delegates in 15 states. Less than a week later, the group's second phone conference included over 1,000 delegates, about 400 of whom were pledged to the movement. Free the Delegates movement was started by eight time National Delegate and former RNC Platform Committee member, Kendal Unruh of

Castle Rock, Colorado Castle Rock is a home rule town that is the county seat and the most-populous municipality of Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The town’s population was 73,158 at the 2020 census, a 51.68% increase since the 2010 census. Castle Ro ...

, who teaches high school government at the Jim Elliot Christian School in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. Unruh was a 2016 Cruz delegate for Colorado to the convention and a member of the Rules Committee. Unruh was the sponsor of the "conscience clause" in the RNC rules committee. The amendment was to codify the legal right of the delegates to unbind from the candidate(s) who had been selected in the primaries. She was quickly joined by fellow Colorado delegate Regina Thomson. The movement was aided by

Beau Correll Carroll "Beau" Correll Jr. (born July 20, 1982) is an American Lawyer, attorney and Pundit, political commentator. In 2016, Correll was a leader in the effort to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination through the use of a federal lawsuit, ame ...

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the northwesternmost Administrative divisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Frederick County, Virginia, Frederi ...

, an attorney who was elected delegate to the Republican National Convention. On July 11, Correll won a federal lawsuit in '' Correll v. Herring''. The effect of the victory was to prevent state law from binding delegates.

Organization

On June 24, 2016, Free The Delegates, a Super PAC, was officially formed by

. Regina Thomson is the executive director and Kendal Unruh acted as the official spokesperson. The Free the Delegates PAC is an entirely different entity than the RNC Nomination challenge named Free the Delegates, founded and organized by Unruh. Texas financier Chris Eckstrom, founder of Courageous Conservatives PAC, a PAC that supported the Ted Cruz presidential campaign, and political consultant Steve Lonegan of New Jersey ran an independent effort focused on denying Trump the Republican nomination.

Republican support

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

and Chairman of the 2016 Republican National Convention

Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member of the ...

appeared to give Free the Delegates tacit support when he appeared on

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

' ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...

'' on June 19. During this appearance, he responded to a question about the group by saying, "It is not my job to tell delegates what to do, what not to do, or to weigh in on things like that... They write the rules. They make their decisions ... the last thing I'm going to do is weigh in and tell delegates what to do." Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker gave support to Free the Delegates, telling the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, "I think historically, not just this year, delegates are and should be able to vote the way they see fit." Former U.S. Senator Gordon J. Humphrey endorsed the efforts of Republican delegates to organize against Trump, saying he would work to encourage New England delegates to oppose Trump. Arizona Senator and 2008 nominee

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

told ''

The Weekly Standard ''The Weekly Standard'' was an American neoconservative political magazine of news, analysis, and commentary that was published 48 times per year. Originally edited by founders Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, the ''Standard'' was described as a ...

'', "I think it's up to every delegate to make up their own minds."

Responses

Columnist

Eric Zorn Eric Zorn (born January 6, 1958) is an American former op-ed columnist and daily blogger for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who specialized in local news as well as politics. Early life and education Zorn is a graduate of the University of Michigan, whe ...

argued that the group is the GOP's "last, best hope", arguing that while it may split the party, nominating Trump may also split it. The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''s editorial board called for a mutiny of GOP delegates, writing, "The GOP has never nominated someone so plainly unprepared, unreliable and unfit."

References

External links