Free the Delegates was an American political effort within the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

, 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 chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...

(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 served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, 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 The terms party conference (UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party memb ...

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 population was 73,158 at the 2020 United States Census, a 51.68% increase since the 2010 United Sta ...

, who teaches high school government at the

Jim Elliot Christian School Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. 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 attorney and 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, amendments to Conv ...

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...

, 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 Courageous Conservatives PAC, a federal political action committee, was first established in 2015 to help conservative candidates win election against moderate candidates. Christopher Ekstrom, a Dallas-based Republican investor, chairs the PAC. ...

, a PAC that supported the Ted Cruz presidential campaign, and political consultant

Steve Lonegan Steven Mark Lonegan (born April 27, 1956) is an American businessman and politician. He served as mayor of Bogota, New Jersey, from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, Lonegan was named the New Jersey State Chairman for the Ted Cruz ...

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 Hungerf ...

and Chairman of the 2016 Republican National Convention

Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American former 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 o ...

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 Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

' ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...

'' 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, "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 Gordon John Humphrey (born October 9, 1940) is an American politician from New Hampshire who served two terms in the U.S. Senate as a Republican from 1979 to 1990, and twice ran for Governor of New Hampshire, though both bids were unsuccessful. E ...

endorsed the efforts of Republican delegates to organize against Trump, saying he would work to encourage New England delegates to oppose Trump. Sen

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

told ''The Weekly Standard'', "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 a former American 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, wher ...

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 a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''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