With a rematch of former president Donald Trump and President Joe Biden in the November 2024 General Election almost a certainty, the Republican National Committee is reportedly looking to declare him the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
According to The Dispatch, the RNC is reviewing a draft resolution that, if approved, would do just that, even though fellow Republican candidate Nikki Haley continues to campaign against Trump, saying she is not going anywhere.
“Well, I have news for all of them: New Hampshire is the first in the nation,” said the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor after conceding to Trump in New Hampshire’s primary earlier this week. “It’s not the last in the nation. This race is far from over.”
On Thursday, the online magazine received a copy of the resolution proposed by David Bossie, an RNC committeeman from Maryland who they say is a close Trump ally.
It also comes after RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Fox News and other media establishments that after Trump’s win in New Hampshire, it was time for the party to unite behind Trump.
Trump won by 54% and picked up 12 delegates to Hayley’s 43% and her 9 delegates in the Granite State’s primary, bringing Trump’s total delegates to 32 after gaining 20 in the Iowa Caucus, while Hayley has 17 delegates, winning 8 in Iowa.
Polling in her home state isn’t looking too favorable either, which shows her trailing behind Trump by as much as 30 points. Adding insult to injury are endorsements for Trump from current South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, and her former rival U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC, who dropped out of the presidential race in November.
If the resolution is passed, will it have any effect on North Carolina’s March 5 Super Tuesday primary election, especially with the growing number of unaffiliated voters?
“As long as the Haley campaign remains active, naming Trump as the presumptive nominee will have little impact on the March 5 primary in North Carolina,” Dr. Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, told Carolina Journal. “The ballot has already been set.”
He said what it does mean is the national party will be able to coordinate in areas such as data-sharing and communications before Trump becomes the formal nominee.
Even if the resolution were to be passed, possibly as early as next week at the RNC’s winter meeting in Las Vegas, under current RNC rules, Trump would still need to win 1,215 nominating convention delegates to become the party’s unchallenged presumptive nominee.