Supporters of former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are at odds over a California Republican Party rules change that, according to the DeSantis camp, has “rigged” the state’s March 5th primary in Trump’s favor.
They are trying to “basically rig it for him,” DeSantis said of Trump’s allies.
“To me,” DeSantis told Fox News Digital on Friday, “I think it should just be an open fair process and let the best person win.”
(Video: Fox News Digital)
As BizPac Review previously reported, California boasts more delegates than any other state in the nation — 169, to be exact — and, in past years, the state’s Republicans used to assign them by congressional district.
In late July, the Golden State’s Republican party changed the rules, opening the door for a possible “winner-take-all” scenario in California.
In 2024, the candidate who wins more than 50% of the statewide vote will walk away with all of the delegates. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the delegates will be proportionately allocated.
New GOP ‘winner take all’ delegate rule in California promises showdown between Trump, DeSantis https://t.co/L9cRNFx7Vg pic.twitter.com/BIFBit4N4F
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) September 15, 2023
While the change suits Trump’s team just fine — “About 55% of likely Republican voters plan to cast their primary ballots for Trump,” according to a recent UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times — Erin Perrine, a spokesperson for the Never Back Down super PAC that backs DeSantis, said the rule change makes “grassroots involvement impossible.”
Back when the change was written, Perrine described it as a “Trump-inspired rigging.”
Though Trump again opted to skip what was the second Republican debate, both he and DeSantis were on hand to address California GOP’s Fall 2023 Convention in Anaheim on Friday.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina also spoke on Friday, and candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is scheduled to speak on Saturday.
The event is “being billed as the Golden State Republican Party’s largest convention ever,” Fox News Digital reports.
As predicted, the rules change was a heated topic of conversation behind the scenes.
Never Back Down founder, former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, who served as deputy secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration, claimed, “The Trump team came in to rig the rules in their favor.”
California GOP chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson explained to Fox News Digital that the change was a necessity.
“[O]ur goal in our rules change was, number one to get compliant with the RNC [Republican National Committee] rules,” she said. “Our previous rules did not allow for us to have our full delegation. We would be struck down half of our delegation. So we had to change the rules.”
The new rules, she predicted, will encourage candidates to campaign statewide rather than focus only on those congressional districts where California Republicans are more likely to favor them over, say, Donald Trump.
“We wanted to make sure the rules were fair for everyone,” Patterson said. “We think this gives the best opportunity for an even playing field for the presidential primary.”
“Delegate rules will be finalized this weekend, on the final day of the convention,” according to Fox News Digital. “But changing the current rules won’t be easy and efforts by DeSantis supporters face very high hurdles.”
In the meantime, DeSantis is blasting Trump for “ducking” the debates.
“You’ve got to earn the nomination,” he told Fox News Digital. “Nobody is entitled to anything. I know voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. They expect to hear from the candidates. They expect you to stand up in these forums and make your case, answer questions, even spar with the other candidates.”
“So I think it’s a big mistake that he’s ducking debates,” the Florida governor said. “I think it’s a big mistake that he’s sending the signals that really the voters don’t matter.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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