Donald Trump wil gain delegates in Washington state GOP primary

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump enters Tuesday’s Washington Republican primary all but guaranteed to get the state’s 44 delegates, but he continues to face resistance from the state’s party leaders, who are hesitant to rally behind his candidacy.

At the state GOP’s annual convention this past weekend, Ted Cruz supporters won 40 of the 41 elected delegate slots to attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July, even though Cruz suspended his presidential bid earlier this month.

Despite the effort to stack the state’s delegates with Cruz supporters, the move will not significantly affect Trump, because delegates are required to support whoever wins the primary, said Mark A. Smith, a political science professor at the University of Washington.

“Cruz had a strong organization,” Smith said. “Some of what we’re seeing is a reflection of the earlier support his campaign built.”

Statewide GOP candidates also have balked at endorsing Trump — Chris Vance, the party’s candidate for U.S. Senate told reporters he does not plan to vote for Trump in the primary or general election, calling the real estate mogul’s policies “insane” and “naive.” The state’s GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant has yet to publicly take a position on Trump. Bryant has refused to answer reporters when asked whether he’ll vote for Trump, according to reports from The Seattle Times.

Cruz’s strong showing at the state convention, and Trump’s poor standing among the state’s major Republican candidates, “sends a message that Trump has a lot of people still to win over,” said Travis N. Ridout, a political science professor at Washington State University.

“Like a lot of places, he’ll have some work to do to get the Republican base united behind him,” Ridout said.

Trump enters the primary 76 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to secure the nomination at the July nominating convention. He’ll have the opportunity to cross the threshold on June 7 when the final batch of Republican primaries are held in California, New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders also will appear on Washington’s primary ballot, but the results will not count toward awarding delegates, because the state’s Democratic party relies instead on the results of its March 26 caucus, Smith said.

Sanders won the Washington Democratic caucus picking up 74 of the party’s 101 convention delegates.

Heading into the final sweep of June Democratic primaries, Clinton is 90 delegates short of the 2,383 required to secure the Democratic nomination, compared to Sanders who is 847 delegates short.

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.