Never Trump super-PAC plans pitch to RNC

by Jonathan Swan - 04/21/16 1:33 PM ET

The biggest “Never Trump” super-PAC is heading to the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting in Florida this week to make personal pitches to RNC members not to support Donald Trump at a contested convention.

Katie Packer, who chairs Our Principles PAC, a conservative super-PAC that has already spent some $16 million opposing Trump, told The Hill in a Facebook Live conversation that she will fly to Florida on Thursday evening to prepare for her Friday pitch.

{mosads}Packer said she will lay out to the RNC members a multifaceted argument for why Trump should not be the Republican Party’s standard-bearer.

“He is not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination. … He’s probably not even a Republican,” Packer said. “He’s slammed Ronald Reagan, he’s slammed George W. Bush” and has held liberal positions on issues such as abortion, guns and healthcare policy.

Packer said she plans to hold private one-on-one meetings with RNC members and will “communicate to them that there is very much a path for this to be an open convention.

“And you as leaders have an obligation to allow that to happen and to allow the delegates to have a candidate that they feel comfortable with.”

The RNC comprises 168 individuals who each have a vote on the convention floor in Cleveland, making them prized commodities as the Republican race appears increasingly likely to end in a contested convention.

In a wide-ranging Facebook Live interview with The Hill on Thursday, Packer insisted her group is still on track to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination before the convention.

She said Our Principles PAC will run on-the-ground activities such as direct mail to deny Trump delegates at the district level, even in states he is likely to win, such as Maryland and Pennsylvania on Tuesday. The anti-Trump group is also talking to delegates directly in states where it makes most sense to take that micro-targeted approach.

But the two last stand battles for the Never Trump movement are shaping up to be Indiana on May 3 and California on June 7, the last day for primaries. In both of those delegate-rich states, Packer and her super-PAC are likely to spend millions on statewide TV advertising hammering Trump.

“He can’t beat Hillary,” Packer told The Hill. “Not only can he not beat Hillary, but he probably will take down the Republican majority in the Senate and a Republican majority in the House.”

Tags Donald Trump