CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Republican National Committee has started preparing for a contested national convention, which would follow the primary season only if no GOP candidate for president wins enough delegates to secure the party’s nomination.
Several GOP leaders at the party’s winter meeting in South Carolina told The Associated Press on Wednesday that preliminary planning for such a possibility is actively underway.
They stressed it had little to do with concerns about the candidacy of billionaire businessman Donald Trump, and they described the early work as a necessary contingency given the divided Republican field. With less than three weeks to go before the Feb. 1 leadoff Iowa caucuses, there are a dozen major Republican candidates still in the race.
