SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A number of Washington state delegates at the Republican National Convention circulated petitions Tuesday seeking to nominate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz alongside Donald Trump.
But the effort went nowhere as Cruz was not placed into nomination and Trump was selected to run in November.
It marked the second day that Washington delegates at the convention in Cleveland tried to get Cruz on the presidential ballot.
Washington delegate Brenda High said she signed the Cruz petition when it was initially circulated last week but had little hope that it would be successful.
Washington delegate Marc Perez, a Cruz supporter, said he refused to sign the petition because Cruz had dropped out of the race.
Perez does not favor Trump but said he has fulfilled all the requirements of a nominee.
“I respect that process,” Perez said.
Trump won the Washington GOP primary, but Cruz forces at the state convention in Pasco were able to pack the 44-member delegation to the national convention with Cruz supporters.
Washington delegates seethed after Monday’s defeat in an attempt to hold a roll call on whether to change the party’s rules in ways that would take power from GOP leaders.
The bid included an effort to let delegates back any candidate they want.
Delegate Eric Minor said the failure of the roll-call effort on a voice vote “was a sham, pure and simple.”
Meanwhile, accusations of plagiarism in Melania Trump’s speech on Monday reverberated with the Washington state delegation.
“It was surreal. Clear plagiarism,” Minor wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “I almost don’t want to spend time on it but it is reflective of the fake, reality TV, carnival sideshow that would be a Trump presidency.”
