To anyone on the outside looking in, it might appear as though the presidential nominees are all but decided. But the party conventions in July could make things far more complicated: What would happen if Donald Trump were rejected by the Republicans and ran as an independent? What role might Congress play in the November election? What would happen if the decision went to the Supreme Court and there were a legal deadlock?
A three horse race?
Suppose that Trump continues to rack up delegates in the Republican primaries but resistance to his candidacy is growing in the party’s barely surviving establishment. At the Republican convention—to be held 18-21st July in Cleveland, Ohio, to choose that party’s presidential nominee—not all state delegates are obliged by the rules to vote for the candidate who won their state’s primary. Moreover, the selection of those delegates is also an internal party matter—and many in the Republican Party are wary of Trump. Thus, Trump could win the largest number of votes in the Republican primary process, but still not obtain the party’s nomination to run for President.