Eric Minor of Gig Harbor, Washington, tells reporters why he fought Donald Trump supporters over rules at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 18, 2016.
Jeff Mapes / OPB
Washington state's delegation to the Republican National Convention joined a rules rebellion today that sought to derail Donald Trump's nomination. Trump supporters, however, quickly crushed the revolt.
The noisy rules fight provided some unscripted drama on the first night of the convention and demonstrated that many delegates remain uneasy about Trump.
The majority of delegates in Washington and eight other states signed a petition challenging new rules worked out by a committee. That should have been enough to demand a roll call. But convention officials said three of the delegations had dropped their demands, and a roll call wasn't required.
Eric Minor, a delegate from Gig Harbor, says the Trump forces knew what could happen if they lost the rules fight.
"They feared that if we rejected the rules from the rules committee — so that all these delegates that are opposing Donald Trump would oppose him on the first ballot, and we would have a different nominee for president. That's the underlying game."
While the entire Washington delegation is pledged to vote for Trump, almost the entire delegation had been supporters of Ted Cruz. Oregon delegates didn't join the rebellion.
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