House Republicans divided over possibility of an outside candidate at convention

GOP chairman Reince Priebus met with GOP lawmakers Tuesday to discuss details of the nomination process that will take place at the convention this summer. The Hill reports that after the 15-minute meeting attendees expressed various opinions about whether or not an outside candidate–a so-called “white knight”–could step in at the convention if it goes to multiple ballots with no resolution in sight:

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“Millions of votes will have been cast. To ignore that and set that aside just doesn’t seem right to me,” said Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.). “I haven’t endorsed anybody; I don’t have a horse in the race. But I just think the will of the people ought to carry the day.”

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), meanwhile, said the adoption of a 2012 convention rule requiring candidates to win at least eight states in order to qualify for the ballot didn’t necessarily have to carry over into this cycle.

“The last rules don’t really mean anything. They’re just kind of where you start,” said Cole, who hasn’t endorsed a candidate. “But at the end of the day, if everybody deadlocks, the idea that the convention couldn’t come up with somebody else? Yeah, of course it can.”

The Trump campaign has argued the candidate with the most delegates should get the nomination even if that candidate does not have 1237, which equals 50% plus one. That view seems to be shared by a majority of GOP voters. In a poll taken last month 63% of Republicans said the nomination should go to the delegate leader.

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But in his meeting with lawmakers, Priebus emphasized that a candidate had to reach 1237 delegates to win the nomination. The Hill reports he also referenced the website conventionfacts.gop. That site features this four minute video explaining the process:

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