WASHINGTON — Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus warned Sunday of damaging political consequences for candidates like John Kasich, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush who still won’t back nominee Donald Trump.
Priebus suggested their failure to stand by their loyalty pledge could hurt them in the 2020 or 2024 elections.
“Those people need to get on board,” Priebus told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And if they’re thinking they’re going to run again someday, I think that we’re going to evaluate the process — of the nomination process and I don’t think it’s going to be that easy for them.”
Priebus said they’d “look at” consequences that could affect who would be eligible to run for the Republican nomination.
“People in our party are talking about what we’re going to do about this. I mean there’s a ballot access issue in South Carolina. In order to be on the ballot in South Carolina, you actually have to pledge your support to the nominee, no matter who that person is,” Priebus said. “So what’s the penalty for that? It’s not a threat, but that’s just the question that we have a process in place.”
“And if a private entity puts forward a process and has agreement with the participants in that process, and those participants don’t follow through with the promises that they made in that process, what — what should a private party do about that if those same people come around in four or eight years?” Priebus said.