D.C. Republicans will cast their ballots this weekend for a presidential nominee. And unlike most elections in this overwhelmingly Democratic city, they'll finally have a (somewhat) big say in something. The couple of thousand people who vote will have significant weight in choosing District Republicans' 19 delegates.
The District's primary is June 14, but because of the proximity to their national convention, the D.C. GOP is holding its own convention at the Loews Madison Hotel from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Saturday. If the presidential primary was held in June, the party would be penalized and only get 16 delegates,DC GOP Executive Director Patrick Mara told WAMU. Because of the change, he says he only expects 8,000-10,000 of the 27,000 registered D.C. Republicans to show up.
Republican voters, who account for just 6 percent of D.C. voters, will be deciding from among 160 candidates who will be the 19 delegates to represent D.C. at the national convention in July. "This is likely the largest single number of DC Republicans who have ever run for one office in the District of Columbia," Mara said in a statement. "It is a testament to the great strides the DC party has made in a very short amount of time.”
The party held a small presidential straw poll on March 2, wherein Donald Trump won with 31 percent. Marco Rubio received 28 percent, Ted Cruz had 16 percent, and Jon Kasich claimed 14 percent of the votes. Ben Carson, who has since suspended his campaign, got five percent.According to the Associated Press, the breakdown of the 160 people in the running is: Rubio in the lead with 31 delegate candidates, followed by John Kasich with 24, Donald Trump at 22, and Ted Cruz with 18.
Any D.C. Republican registered by Feb. 29 is eligible to vote on Saturday (the Democratic Presidential primary remains on June 14).
Meanwhile, activists plan to rally across the street to encourage GOP voters to "dump Trump,"Borderstan reports.
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