Media Coverage
Source: KPFA
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
04.07.16
Pillsbury senior partner Fred Lowell was a California delegate to every Republican National Convention from 1992 to 2004. This week he shared his experience with KPFA 94.1 in Berkeley, Calif., and discussed the possibility of a “brokered convention” after Senator Ted Cruz’s Wisconsin primary win.
“The term ‘brokered convention’ is a little bit of a misnomer,” Lowell said. “That implies there’s a whole bunch of people behind closed doors picking a nominee. I don’t think that’s going to happen if it goes beyond the first ballot. I think it’s going to be a real free-for-all. Most modern conventions these days can be dull affairs, but I don’t think this one will be.”
In a brokered convention, delegates are selected by the candidates to vote for them in the first round. However, the delegate selection process varies from state to state.
“In California, each candidate picks his or her own slate of delegates. So Kasich will submit a slate. Trump and Cruz will do the same thing, as would Mrs. Clinton and Sanders. They will pick people they are pretty sure will be loyal to them, so the chances of someone else being able to pick off those delegates on a lower ballot is fairly slim. That’s not necessarily true in a lot of other states, where party regulars may fill those slots, and you don’t know what they’re going to do,” he said.
More than 2,000 delegates are set to attend the Republican National Convention on July 18 in Cleveland, Ohio.
To hear Lowell’s thoughts on what a brokered convention would mean for the Republican Party, listen to the full KPFA segment,