State Republican Parties: Who Needs Primaries? Trump Is Our Man – OpEd
By Adam Dick
Many states have for decades imposed difficult to virtually impossible hurdles that third parties must jump over for their candidates to appear on general election ballots.
But, it is not only Libertarian, Green, and other third-party candidates who can be denied their places on election ballots. Alex Isenstadt reported Friday at Politico that the state Republican parties of Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, and South Carolina were “poised to cancel their 2020 GOP presidential primaries and caucuses, a move that would cut off oxygen to Donald Trump’s long-shot primary challengers.”
Affected would be any candidates challenging President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. Included are some candidates who have won high-level elected offices as Republicans — former South Carolina Governor and United States House of Representatives Member Mark Sanford, former US House Member from Illinois Joe Walsh, and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld.
Some people will be quick to blame Trump’s presidency for bringing about this new “undemocratic” turn of events. Yet, Isenstadt relates in his article that there have been a number of prior instances of state parties — both Republican and Democratic — cancelling presidential primaries and caucuses in years when the parties had incumbents seeking reelection.
Still, Trump does appear to think state Republican parties cancelling their 2020 presidential primaries and caucuses is A-OK, defending the propriety of such action when asked about it on Monday.
This article was published by RonPaul Institute.
