Donald Trump will head into the Republican National Convention with at least 11 of the delegates from New Hampshire’s Republican State Committee, the state party announced Monday.
The breakdown of the remaining 23 delegates is as follows, according to the party: John Kasich gets at least four, Ted Cruz will have at least three and Marco Rubio will have at least two delegates.
Jeb Bush, who dropped out of the race over the weekend, was slated to receive three delegates after his fourth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary. But those delegates will now be able to back another candidate. NHGOP Executive Director Ross Berry, in an email, said Bush’s campaign “still gets to select his delegates” but pointed to the state law on the process, which notes that those delegates will now be unbound.
According to state law: “If a presidential candidate has received a share of the delegates as a result of the presidential primary but withdraws as a presidential candidate at any time prior to the convention, his pledged delegates shall be released by the candidate and each delegate is free to support any candidate of his political party who may be his choice as a candidate for president.”
Berry said letters were sent to all candidates who received delegates on Monday. The candidates, per state law, have 10 days to tell the Secretary of State who they've selected as delegates or alternates. In turn, "the secretary of state shall then notify by mail each delegate and alternate chosen by the candidate to support his candidacy at the national convention."
Jennifer Horn, the state party chairwoman, participated in a discussion about the delegate system on a recent episode of The Exchange on NHPR.
“The national committeeman, national committeewoman and myself, we don’t get to just support whomever we please,” Horn told the panel last week. “We call us ‘at-large’ delegates. We will be assigned proportionally, as per the Secretary of State.”
Horn’s full remarks, explaining the details of the Republican delegate process in New Hampshire and across the country, can be heard below.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley also spoke to NHPR about the delegate process last week, addressing concerns that were raised about the system for allocating "superdelegates" between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
