Sen. Mike Lee thinks delegates at the Republican National Convention should be free to vote for whichever candidate they want, despite a ruling that says otherwise.
The Utah Republican told the
Washington Examiner there are two "hoops" to "jump through" in order to become a party's nominee: the primary vote and the delegate vote. Delegates, Lee said, should not necessarily be bound to vote for a particular candidate, regardless of how their state voted in the primary.
"The convention is of course influenced by the primaries; the delegates should always be at least honor-bound, conscience-bound, to follow the outcome of their state's primary election," Lee said.
"But I think they also ought to retain some voice, some right to go against that under extraordinary circumstances, if they think those are present. If they can't in good conscience cast that vote, they'll have to be prepared to face the people they represent back home and explain to them why they're going to go against the vote of their home state.
"Most of the time, anyone who jumps through the first hoop is going to get through the second hoop. And in fact, in recent memory, for the last 50 years, it's been virtually automatic, almost every time other than maybe '76. This time it's not working out — by the time we get this close to the convention, most presumptive nominees have won over the delegates overwhelmingly, such that there's basically unanimity, or at least very strong consensus, supporting the presumptive nominee. We're not there yet."
Lee has yet to endorse Donald Trump for president, despite the fact that Trump trounced everyone else in the Republican primary and was the only candidate left standing.
Lee, who took office in 2011, is running for reelection this year. He said he still doesn't know the real Trump, the one who could potentially become the nation's 45th president.
"I'd like to know more about what he stands for," Lee told the Examiner. "I'd love to discover that Donald Trump is just this huge federalism and separation of powers fanatic. I feel strongly that those things are essential to who we are as Republicans and what we need as Americans."
In a separate interview with
Yahoo News, Lee said there's a reason why the convention follows the primary season.
"The fact that we have a convention in addition to a primary has to mean something," Lee said. "Any time you have … a set of primaries and then a convention, I think whoever is going to be the nominee needs to win both.
"I don't view this as a 'Never Trump' effort. That isn't the point. The point is there are delegates who have yet to be won over. He needs to win them over."
Lee has been outspoken about his feelings on Trump, rattling off a laundry list of reasons to
Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg last month why he is not a fan of the real estate mogul becoming president.
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