"Woo, I'm so excited!" Amy Carl said. She was selected Friday night to represent Michigan's Fourth Congressional District at the Republican National Convention.
She will vote for Donald Trump in the first round of elections, but if no one candidates wins a majority of the delegates, the convention will become brokered. That means Carl and all the other delegates can vote for whomever they choose. "I'm committed. I'm committed to Mr. Trump on the first ballot and the hundredth ballot," Carl said. "I signed a pledge with the campaign, and I will fulfill my duties."
Delegates from the Seventh and Eighth districts say they will do the same with their candidates, Governor John Kasich and Senator Ted Cruz respectively.
"It'll be John Kasich, yes," Delegate Jason Sheppard when asked who he would cast his ballot for if there were two or more votes.
"It's a very different year and it's a very big deal because we need people who will stand strong for Senator Cruz on the second and third ballot," Eighth District Delegate Wendy Day said. "That's been our number one priority, and I'm excited to be able to do that for him and also encourage our other delegates to do the same."
Each Congressional District in Michigan selected three delegates, one for each candidate. Those 42 people will represent the state in Cleveland in Mid-July. "The election season is kind of the regular season in a sporting event, and this process that we're going through right now is the playoffs," Day said. "Then the Superbowl of the whole thing, of course, is the National Convention, so who wouldn't want to be a part of that?"
Now is the time for the GOP to start looking ahead and thinking about uniting behind whomever earns the party's nomination, Sheppard said.
"There's been a lot of rhetoric, a lot of things said like 'I'm not going to support this person or that person if they're picked.' That has to go away because the ultimate goal is not only to unite as a party but also to win in November," Sheppard said.
The Michigan GOP will choose its at-large delegates Saturday. In the end, 25 delegates will represent Trump, and 17 each will represent Cruz and Kasich.
