CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In addition to seeking renomination during the May primary election, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is also running to be an unaffiliated delegate to the Republican National Convention.
“When you run unaffiliated, you have the ability to make a seasoned judgment choice,” Morrisey said on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline. “But I certainly care deeply about how West Virginians think about these issues.”
The Republican National Convention is scheduled for July 18-21 at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.
It’ll take 1,237 delegate votes to nominate a Republican presidential candidate for the Nov. 8 general election.
This year, the 34 delegates West Virginia sends to the RNC could be more important than the end result in the GOP presidential primary if Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-W.Va.) and Ohio Governor John Kasich fall short of the needed delegate total.
Those 34 delegates will include West Virginia Republican Party Chair Conrad Lucas; Melody Potter, National Committee chair; Kris Warner, National Committee chair and 31 elected delegates, including three delegates from each of the three Congressional districts plus 22 at-large delegates who are running statewide.
Those 22 delegates will be made up of the top statewide vote-getter plus seven delegates from the individual Congressional districts, with no more than two from the same county, and there are hundreds of people for voters in the Republican primary to consider.
Most of the delegates are committed to specific presidential candidates for at least the first ballot at the convention but some, like Morrisey, are not.
If elected, Morrisey said he — as a delegate — would not necessarily support the Republican presidential candidate who gets the most votes in West Virginia automatically.
“We know why Donald Trump is resonating in West Virginia and a lot of people believe he will change all the nonsense that we’ve seen in Washington and he’s clearly not part of the establishment,” Morrisey said.
“But I think (Texas Senator) Ted Cruz’s message also plays very well in West Virginia.”
Morrisey has not yet endorsed a Republican presidential candidate, though he’s not ruling out the possibility of doing so ahead of the May 10 primary election in the Mountain State.
Early voting begins on Wednesday, Apr. 27. The last day to register to vote is Tuesday, Apr. 19.