As states parties begin choosing delegates to the Republican National Convention in July, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is using his campaign's superior organization to outflank front-runner Donald Trump in what could be a fight over delegates, should the real estate mogul fail to win the party's presidential nomination outright.

While it's allowed and even anticipated by experienced campaigns, Cruz's maneuvers seem to have caught Trump, a political novice, flat-footed. So the billionaire businessman is deploying his favorite defense: threatening to sue.

"I have a guy going around trying to steal people's delegates," Trump said on ABC News on Sunday. "This is supposed to be America, a free America."



Trump has built his campaign on a series of platforms and proposals designed to appeal to those who feel they haven't gotten a fair shake – including the Republican base, who increasingly feel the GOP elite are out of touch with their interests.

For months, Trump has threatened to run as an independent if he felt the the Republican Party wasn't treating him fairly. More recently, the real estate tycoon has warned that, if the GOP used convention rules to deny him the nomination, despite having the lion's share of delegates, voters would openly revolt.

"You know, welcome to the Republican Party. What's going on in the Republican Party is a disgrace," he continued on ABC. "I have so many more votes and so many more delegates. And, frankly, whoever at the end, whoever has the most votes and the most delegates, should be the nominee."

Multiple polls show Republican voters agree, by approximately a 2-to-1 margin.

Trump has a wide lead in the delegate race, with 739 to his credit so far, and only 38 percent of the delegates remain for allocation. To win the nomination on the first ballot, a Republican candidate needs 1,237 delegates – mathematically possible for Trump, but increasingly unlikely as the primary nears its end.

Instead, analysts expect Trump to arrive at the party convention in Cleveland just shy of the majority. And Cruz, whose campaign has often been in place for months and has positioned his supporters on district and county delegate lists, is trying to chip away at Trump's advantage.



On Sunday, Trump threatened to file a formal challenge to Cruz's maneuvering in Louisiana.

Trump edged Cruz in the Pelican State by 3.6 points in its March 5 primary, but under the rules they both came away with 18 delegates. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has since ended his bid for president, netted five delegates.

Cruz is expected to directly benefit from Rubio's departure, with the Florida senator's five Louisiana delegates free to back another candidate. State party officials say they expect those five, along with another five – state party leaders whose votes are not bound by the popular vote – will back Cruz in Cleveland.

"Just to show you how unfair Republican primary politics can be, I won the State of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz," Trump tweeted. "Lawsuit coming."

On Monday, Cruz brushed off the threat.

"You know what, who cares?" Cruz said at a news conference in Wisconsin. "I'm almost amused when Donald doesn't know what to do and threatens a lawsuit."

Later Monday, Trump's campaign clarified the threat. Barry Bennett, a senior adviser dealing with Trump's delegate strategy, said Trump meant a formal challenge was headed to the Republican National Committee's Committee on Contests, not a court of law.