A faction of Republicans opposed to Donald Trump is pitching a last-ditch effort to stop the party’s presumptive presidential nominee on a long-shot rules change at the national convention in July.
On Sunday night, the Republican operatives trying to drum up an anti-Trump coalition held their second conference call in five days.
According to organiser Steve lonegan, about 1,000 interested people were on the call — up sharply from the roughly three dozen who were on a similar call last week, CNN reported on Monday.
The goal is passing a rule at the Republican National Convention slated for July 2 that would free delegates to vote their “conscience”, negating any binding put in place by states’ primaries.
The group has the backing of Courageous Conservatives PAC (Political Action Committee), a group which lonegan serves as spokesman for and originally backed
Texas Senator Ted Cruz during his race. The PAC will serve as a fundraising vehicle, lonegan said. As of its last filing, the group had just over $4,000 cash on hand and had raised a total of about $360,000 in the primary.
Next steps for the effort include a round of television and radio appearances, and encouraging supporters to make their own outreach through the Press and social media.