Despite the 31 votes for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and two one abstentions cast by Colorado delegates, Donald J. Trump secured the nomination last night to become the 2016 Republican Party Presidential candidate with 1,725 delegate votes. The order of state roll call was changed so that his home state, New York, could put him over the 1273 necessary to secure the nomination. His son, Donald J. Trump, Jr., was the delegate who read the votes from the floor.
The candidate with the next highest votes was Cruz with 475. John Kasich received 120 votes, Sen. Marco Rubio received 114 votes, Dr. Ben Carson received seven votes, former Gov. Jeb Bush received three votes and Sen. Rand Paul received two votes.
Colorado has been at the epicenter of protests against Trump, but it would appear that some Coloradans are coming around. Delegate Brita Horn, Routt County Treasurer, offered this statement on changing her vote to Trump:
“From the floor of the RNC Convention, I fought all the fights that I was elected to by CD3 and everything you elected me to do. I’ve decided that because Sen. Cruz suspended his campaign and has given no indication of reactivating it, I’m going to cast our vote for Donald Trump. I am a Christian first, a mom second, and a Republican third. I decided to vote for Trump because I stand arm in arm with Pat Smith and Karen Vaughn, Gold Star moms whose sons were brutally murdered and who both endorsed Trump on stage. Hillary Clinton will continue Obama’s reckless foreign policy and no mother should ever have a Commander in Chief with such little regard for their lives. I hope you will join me in voting for Donald Trump and Make America Safe Again.”
While Newt Gingrich didn’t make the Veep cut, he’s been Team Trump for a while. Here’s what he said about the ugly primary:
“I think that it is clear that this is a guy who is going to be different. If you want to break up the corrupt bureaucratic, incestuous system of Washington, you had better have somebody who has a very strong personality and who is very willing to be in fights. You are not going to get some nice, pleasant corporate bureaucrat to come to this city and dramatically change it. And I think Trump has proven, in beating 16 other candidates, that he has the fortitude and the intelligence and the commitment, that he actually has a chance of really, genuinely defeating the old order and forcing it to change, which it will resist very deeply.”
The GOP started with 17 candidates. Statistically speaking, for many – probably most – Republicans, Trump was not a first choice. But, as of last night, he’s officially the GOP candidate. It’s time to unify and to roll up our sleeves. There’s a lot of work to be done in order to beat Hillary Clinton.