Wyoming Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis predicts a successful day for Ted Cruz on Saturday as the state convention selects the remainder of their delegates to represent the state at the national Republican party convention in Cleveland.
“I think that Ted Cruz will have a very good day on Saturday,” she tells Breitbart News. “But it’s not based on the process being unfair, it’s just based on a candidate that is better equipped and better prepared to succeed in that type of process.”
Wyoming has a similar process for selecting their delegates as Colorado, which Trump has described as “a fix,” “crooked,” and “rigged.”
Lummis defended Colorado’s delegate selection process, arguing that Cruz was simply more organized.
“I don’t think it was unfair,” she said. “I think Cruz had the superior knowledge of how the process worked and executed a better ground game to take advantage of the way the process worked.”
But while the process in Colorado is relatively new, Wyoming has done its primary the same way since 1974.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was initially scheduled to attend the Wyoming convention to represent Trump, but canceled her appearance without an explanation.
“The Donald Trump campaign has informed the Wyoming Republican Party that Sarah Palin, the scheduled surrogate speaker for the presidential candidate, will not be attending the State GOP Convention,” the Wyoming Republican party announced on their website. According to the statement, the Trump campaign has not indicated whether another surrogate will appear for Trump.
Cruz already begins the contest ahead of his rivals. In the March county convention process, the Texas Senator earned nine delegates while Sen. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump only earned one delegate each.
The 505 state convention delegates will select the remaining 14 delegates on Saturday. Cruz plans to speak for himself at the convention while Idaho Governor Butch Otter plans to appear for Gov. John Kasich.
Lummis, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, endorsed Sen. Rand Paul for president but hasn’t officially endorsed a second candidate since the Kentucky libertarian exited the race. She pointed out that Cruz had actually visited and campaigned in Wyoming, but noted voters in the state hadn’t been visited by Kasich or Trump.
“Trump has not been in Wyoming,” Lummis said. “I have never met Mr. Trump, and I don’t know anyone in Wyoming who has.”
She indicated that she would seek an uncommitted delegate position at the state convention, so she could go to Cleveland to represent Western issues such as the management of public lands by the federal government and energy regulations.
“To be honest, I would probably lean toward Cruz on the first ballot,” she said, pointing to his popularity in the State. “Ted Cruz thinks more like I think on Western issues.”
Delegates representing the state, she explained, would be looking for candidates who could address Western issues specifically.
She criticized President Obama’s “clear stated effort” to destroy the coal business in America, which was dramatically affecting the Wyoming economy. Clinton, she said, would only finish the job Obama started.
“This convention this weekend is in an atmosphere of a state that is under siege from the federal government,” she said.
UPDATE 7:10 P.M.
Update: Sarah Palin informed the Trump campaign a week ago that she would be unable to attend the Wyoming Republican convention due to a prior commitment, according to a source close to the former Alaska Governor.
Palin is scheduled to attend the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas this weekend to promote her new syndicated court television show with the working title “Palin Rules.”
A second source from Palin’s staff confirmed with Breitbart News that Palin made the Trump campaign aware of the scheduling conflict over a week ago.
The Wyoming Republican party announced on Thursday that Palin was no longer expected to attend the convention and that the Trump did not inform them of a replacement representative for the campaign. The Trump campaign did not return a request for comment.
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