Scott Walker speaks at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. (Getty)
Republicans might not actually nominate Donald Trump at the party’s convention this summer, and a new name is emerging to replace him: Scott Walker.
Red State reported a rumor on Wednesday that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is interested in accepting the GOP nomination, assuming Trump’s campaign continues imploding the way it has been during the past few days. Yahoo News backed this line of thinking up, noting that a source close to the governor said he’s willing to serve as a Trump replacement.
Publicly, Walker is denying this report, telling Yahoo News that he is focused on governing and on running for reelection in 2018.
But on Wednesday, Walker came out and said that he isn’t sure he can support Trump and stressed that the New York businessman will not become the nominee until July. This contradicts previous comments Walker has made that he would definitely back the GOP nominee.
“[Trump] is not yet the nominee. Officially that won’t happen until the middle of July and so for me that’s kind of the timeframe,” Walker said. “In particular I want to make sure that he renounces what he says, at least in regards to this judge.”
Rumblings about a possible Trump replacement have emerged as members of the Republican establishment begin to abandon their presumptive nominee. Following Trump’s attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Paul Ryan, John McCain, Newt Gingrich, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and virtually everyone else in D.C. disavowed the remarks. But it has gone further than that: one senator, Mark Kirk, un-endorsed Trump in response to the judge comments. David Johnson, an Iowa state senator, officially left the Republican party on Tuesday, likening Donald Trump to Hitler.
So could the nomination go to someone like Scott Walker rather than Trump, the candidate with over 1,237 delegates?
Technically, yes. Although the party convention’s current rules require delegates to vote for the candidate they have been assigned to based on the state’s primary results, that rule could be changed before the convention. There is now a movement of conservatives who want to unbind delegates prior to the first ballot vote. If accomplished, that means delegates could vote for absolutely anyone they wanted to, which would essentially make the entire primary process pointless and allow someone like Scott Walker, Ted Cruz or Mitt Romney to swoop in and steal the nomination.
The Republican party now must decide which is worse: nominating Donald Trump, or nominating someone who the people did not choose as their candidate.