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 For the first time in 40 years, Republicans could arrive at their
national convention in Cleveland without a nominee. If front-runner
Donald Trump fails to lock up the nomination before then, as some
pollsters are predicting, Strang will have a chance to make history.
Strang, from Illinois, is one of 2,472 delegates to the convention
who will ultimately determine the party's choice for the White House
this November. In recent elections, the delegates have simply
rubberstamped the presumptive nominee. But this year the convention
could become a brutal fight in which every delegate vote will count.
Trump currently has 673 delegates after winning a string of
nominating contests, but if he wants to avoid a floor fight at the
convention he needs the magic number of 1,237. There is some doubt
among election number crunchers that he can hit it.
And that's when Strang will step into the spotlight. After filling
roles in local Republican politics, Strang was selected by Illinois
voters to serve as a delegate for Republican candidate U.S. Senator
Ted Cruz, of Texas. He likes Cruz for his position on guns and
immigration.
 But if the convention becomes a fight because no candidate has the
needed 1,237 delegates on the first round of voting, most of the
delegates would eventually be released. States are still sorting
through some rules governing how long delegates are bound to
candidates. Strang said if he found himself a free agent, he would
be open to switching his vote. (Graphic on how a contested
convention works: http://tmsnrt.rs/1ROtOHw)
“I am going to be loyal to Ted Cruz, and I will stick with him until
I see if there’s no hope. And if there’s no hope for Ted getting in,
as I understand it I can pledge my votes to somebody else, and I
would hope Ted would understand,” he said.
Interviews with Republican state party officials and some delegates
who have already been selected reveal widespread soul-searching in
anticipation of a potential fight. Officials and delegates described
weighing their personal preference with the need to rally around a
candidate going into the general election.
Party faithful are steeling themselves for a battle, not just for
the nomination, but also for the party's core values.
Establishment Republicans deeply opposed to Trump's candidacy say he
does not represent social and economic conservative values on
healthcare, trade and the role of government in daily life.
Trump has built his campaign on anti-establishment rhetoric and
promises to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep out
illegal immigrants, impose a temporary ban on Muslims entering the
United States and restore the country's manufacturing base.
A contested convention would pose a major test for Trump’s campaign,
which thus far has eschewed a traditional grassroots organization.
His rivals, Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich, are already trying
to lobby delegates who might be open to changing sides once they are
allowed to become free agents in the convention.
 "A GREAT MISUNDERSTANDING"
In every state, the party chair and two national committee members,
a man and a woman, are automatically selected to be delegates. But
from there, state parties use a wide variety of procedures to pick
delegates, most of whom won’t be named until late spring or summer.
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“These are the base of the party,” said Michigan Republican Party
chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel. “The delegates are not the
establishment. They are the base. And I think that’s a great
misunderstanding.”
Often sporting outfits with homemade decorated hats or jackets
weighed down with dozens of buttons, delegates who show up every
four years include everyone from lawmakers to homemakers, and from
those who write million dollar checks to retirees who make phone
calls.
Many states use small conventions to pick delegates, many of whom
are long-time party activists and elected office holders. Not all of
them personally back the candidate they are pledged to support in
the first round of convention voting, said Virginia Republican Party
chairman John Whitbeck.
“We have two former governors, a former attorney general, state
senators, state House of Delegates members, party leaders, big and
small and donors,” said Whitbeck.
In other states, such as Illinois, some delegates are elected by
primary voters. In Ohio, which gives all its delegates to the
statewide primary winner, candidates pick their own slate of
convention representatives.
Jim Carns, a state representative from Alabama, where delegates are
selected in the primaries, signed up to represent Trump last fall --
when many still viewed the rise of the New York real estate mogul as
a temporary phenomenon.
He sees no circumstance in which he would switch candidates. But he
knows there will be efforts to win over delegates by both the Trump
camp and their opponents.
Once delegates are allowed to change their votes, some establishment
figures have floated the potential to nominate someone who didn’t
even run for president -- such as House of Representatives Speaker
Paul Ryan.
But most of the 14 delegates interviewed by Reuters dismissed that
as an option.
“I almost think that I would walk away from the Republican Party if
they did that,” said Strang, the Illinois delegate. “If we’d wanted
Paul Ryan, we would have drafted him. And I don’t dislike Paul Ryan,
but he didn’t run.”
Ryan has said he is not interested in the presidency.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson and Ginger Gibson, Editing by Ross
Colvin)
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