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| D.C. Republicans wrap around the block to cast primary vote | D.C. Republicans wrap around the block to cast primary vote |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Thousands of District Republicans — usually such a small cohort that they joke about holding meetings in phone booths — turned out Saturday to vote in what many saw as the city’s most influential GOP primary in years. | Thousands of District Republicans — usually such a small cohort that they joke about holding meetings in phone booths — turned out Saturday to vote in what many saw as the city’s most influential GOP primary in years. |
| “It’s exciting to see this many Republicans in D.C.” said Erika Walter, 27, as she joined a line of more than 350 people that snaked out of the Loews Madison Hotel and down 15th Street NW for a block before wrapping around to L Street NW around noon. As of 3:30 p.m., there were more than a thousand people in line, including more than 800 who stood in the drizzle. Some said they had been waiting for more than two hours. | |
| “I know how important one vote is,” added Walter, press secretary to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.). “I’ll stand in line as long as it takes.” | “I know how important one vote is,” added Walter, press secretary to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.). “I’ll stand in line as long as it takes.” |
| Many voters waited more than an hour to check a box for front-runner Donald Trump, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) or Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.). The ballot also carried the names of Ben Carson, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), though all have dropped out of the race. | |
| With 19 delegates at stake — as many as Hawaii and more than Vermont and Delaware — D.C. Republicans say they pull more weight than many people think. Moreover, party officials said, holding the primary earlier than usual allowed them to have a say while the nomination is still up for grabs and the contest remains so tensely competitive that cancellation of a Trump rally Friday night in Chicago ended in skirmishes between Trump supporters and protesters. | |
| Local party officials opted to move up a scheduled June primary and hold a stand-alone vote — they termed it a “presidential primary convention” — to make sure their votes were considered. The June date falls within 45 days of the July 18 to 21 Republican convention, which the national party wouldn’t allow without deducting some or all of the District’s delegates. | |
| Patrick Mara, the D.C. Republican Committee’s executive director, said the local party would spend between $60,000 and $80,000 renting the hotel ballroom and operating the polls from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The party rented a smaller hotel room until 9 p.m. to allow Jews to vote after sundown on the Sabbath. | |
| [GOP primary polls stay open late to allow Sabbath-observant Jews to vote] | [GOP primary polls stay open late to allow Sabbath-observant Jews to vote] |
| If any candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote, he would take all 19 delegates, Mara said. If no candidate claimed a majority, the delegates would be proportioned to each candidate based on their vote count. | If any candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote, he would take all 19 delegates, Mara said. If no candidate claimed a majority, the delegates would be proportioned to each candidate based on their vote count. |
| “We’re early enough where there are still four candidates, and every single one of them might be nominated,” Mara said. | “We’re early enough where there are still four candidates, and every single one of them might be nominated,” Mara said. |
| Several voters noted that the ratio between the District’s 19 delegates and the relatively small numbers of registered Republicans made their vote count more than in almost any other primary or caucus. That low ratio, combined with the earlier date, made the D.C. Republican convention more influential than at any point since Abraham Lincoln was president, Mara said. | |
| Some voters said that, living in a city where Republicans make up just 6 percent of registered voters, they felt as if they had more power at the polls Saturday than they would in the November general election. | |
| “This is important,” said Hudson Hollister, 34, executive director of an advocacy group who described himself as a Rubio supporter. “Republicans are outnumbered and outgunned in the District, but that also means that our voice can really matter. Today our vote carries special weight.” | “This is important,” said Hudson Hollister, 34, executive director of an advocacy group who described himself as a Rubio supporter. “Republicans are outnumbered and outgunned in the District, but that also means that our voice can really matter. Today our vote carries special weight.” |
| The day had its share of Republican star power. | The day had its share of Republican star power. |
| C. Boyden Gray, who served as White House counsel under President George H.W. Bush and was running as a delegate supporting Cruz, mingled with voters. Nearby, Joshua Bolten, who served as White House chief of staff to President George W. Bush, manned the #NeverTrump table. | C. Boyden Gray, who served as White House counsel under President George H.W. Bush and was running as a delegate supporting Cruz, mingled with voters. Nearby, Joshua Bolten, who served as White House chief of staff to President George W. Bush, manned the #NeverTrump table. |
| “Who would’ve thunkin Washington, D.C., you’d see Republicans get excited about something,” Gray said, as he glanced around the hotel ballroom filled with a thrum of hundreds of people chatting in line. “Normally, we’re such a minority that we don’t matter, but this race is obviously attracting enormous attention.” | |
| Bolten declined to say whom he supports but said he was urging people to vote for delegates “who will oppose Donald Trump at all stages of the convention, assuming it’s contested.” | |
| Bolten said he had received “very positive reactions” from many voters and “civil, for the most part” feedback from Trump supporters. He said he believed anti-Trump sentiment underlay the turnout. | |
| “A substantial part of the party is steadfastly opposed to the front-runner,” Bolten said. | |
| None of the voters interviewed brought up the Friday night violence in Chicago as a factor in their choice. Most said they had already made up their mind before the skirmishes, while some said the violence confirmed their previous feelings about Trump. | |
| “For me, it reconfirmed that we need to nominate a candidate who doesn’t foment violence,” said Hollister, the Rubio supporter. | “For me, it reconfirmed that we need to nominate a candidate who doesn’t foment violence,” said Hollister, the Rubio supporter. |
| “It didn’t surprise me,” said Walter, who said she planned to vote for Rubio because of his “values and integrity.” “Trump is a volatile character, so you can expect his supporters to be the same.” | |
| Gray said he wanted to know more about what sparked the violence but said he worried about the message it sent. | Gray said he wanted to know more about what sparked the violence but said he worried about the message it sent. |
| “The question that’s raised is that it appears to be a pattern of Trump supporters maybe egging people on to generate excitement,” Gray said. “I hope that’s not true. . . . That kind of disruption is not good — not good for the political process and not good for how people look at us in the rest of the world. It’s just not good.” |