GOP Resolution Would Shut Down Primary Contest To Anoint Trump As Nominee

Under current RNC rules, Trump would have to win 1,215 pledged delegates from the various primaries and caucuses holding their contests this winter and spring in order to become the presumptive nominee ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this coming July. Currently, Trump leads in the delegate race with 32 pledged delegates to former UN ambassador Nikki Haley's 17.

However, the RNC is within its rights to change those rules. Should it do so, it would effectively nullify the results of all upcoming primaries and caucuses after just two nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Haley's team pushed back against the resolution, and fired a shot across the bow at RNC chair Ronna McDaniel.

"Who cares what the RNC says?" Haley spokeswoman Olivia Perez Cubas told The Dispatch. "We’ll let millions of Republican voters across the country decide who should be our party’s nominee, not a bunch of Washington insiders. If Ronna McDaniel wants to be helpful she can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s also worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley."

The next primary will be in Haley's home state of South Carolina in late February, which will also kick off the winner-take-all stage of the Republican primary, in which the candidate who wins a majority of votes will be awarded 100 percent of that state or territory's delegates.