Reaction from leaders in the Washington County Republican Party was one of soldiering forward.
“Sen. Cruz needed to win Indiana to continue with his campaign,” said Jim Geldreich, chairman of the Washington County Republican Party.
“The loss in Indiana dealt a major blow to his chances of winning the nomination at a contested convention, as most prognostications now show Donald Trump surpassing the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination outright.
Geldreich said, “It will be interesting to see whether Trump can unite the party, as many party faithful do not feel he is a conservative.”
Geldreich and fellow Washington County party representative Kathy Kiernan will leave July 18 for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
“Constitutionally, I still have to vote for Cruz on the first ballot at the convention,” said Geldreich. “It should not go beyond that, as Trump will most likely have more than 1,237 delegates.”
Kiernan echoed Geldreich’s thoughts.
“Per our State Republican Party Constitution, the candidate who wins a Congressional District controls those delegates unless the candidate releases them or does not receive 1/3 of the votes cast,” she said. “Cruz won the 5th Congressional District. Our constitution controls what we do.”
Moving forward Kiernan said, “This was very unusual to go this far into the primaries with no clear winner.
“I think about how many elections people have said ‘everything is already decided before we get to vote.’ That was certainly not true this year. Wisconsin was pretty exciting.”
Geldreich predicts one of the main talking points will be the U.S. Supreme court appointment to replace Justice Scalia.