Jamie McGee, and Joel Ebert

The Tennessean

Death threats, protests and allegations of vote-stealing didn't stop Tennessee Republican Party leaders on Saturday from finalizing a list of delegates to the GOP's national presidential nominating convention over fierce objections from backers of Donald Trump.

The raucous meeting in Nashville underscores a growing rift among Republicans and adds to party angst over a possible floor fight at the GOP convention in July.

The measure, approved by a tally of 40-25, comes a day after the Trump campaign accused the party of trying to "steal" delegates, even after he handily won the state's primary last month. On Saturday Trump's backers flocked to the party's executive committee meeting in Nashville, doubling down on allegations that officials are trying to stack Tennessee's delegation with members likely to vote for another candidate if given the chance.

On Friday Darren Morris, state director of Trump's campaign in Tennessee, told The Tennessean that the Trump campaign and Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes had agreed Wednesday on the names of seven of the 14 at-large delegates that, under party rules, are to be appointed by the state party. Delegates will ultimately decide the party’s nominee at the Republican National Convention in July.

Trump camp accuses Tennessee GOP of stealing delegates

But Morris said that an updated delegate list he reviewed late this week had been wiped clean of several of those names and instead featured individuals he described as "anti-Trump."

Brent Leatherwood, executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party, said the party didn’t have any agreement and accused the Trump campaign of rabble-rousing.

"There was never an agreement, especially after the Trump campaign spoke dismissively about the party process and one of our female members,” Leatherwood said, without specifying which member.

In advance of the executive committee's Saturday meeting, Trump supporters turned to social media to express their concerns. Trump's national social media director shared Haynes' personal cell phone on Twitter, encouraging people to reach out to the chairman.

On Saturday Haynes said there were even "death threats" from Trump supporters in advance of the committee's gathering. Leatherwood said one threat, which came over social media, "involved trying to hang people."

The fervor comes after Trump handily won Tennessee’s March 1 GOP primary, with 39 percent of the vote. The Tennessee Republican Party announced last month that 33 of the 58 delegates (57 percent) are to go to Trump, 16 to Ted Cruz and nine to Marco Rubio.

Donald Trump wins Tennessee Republican primary

As a result of last month's vote, 41 of the state's 58 delegates were approved by Tennessee Republican primary voters to be delegates committed to specific candidates. Three are also selected by the Republican National Committee.

Trump supporters largely had two concerns: the remaining 14 at-large Republican delegates who are appointed by the party's executive committee and those selected as alternates, who are only used in the event that an elected delegate is not able to attend the national convention in Cleveland.

Though delegates will be bound to honor the primary results in the first two rounds of voting, they could become free agents after that — meaning their loyalties could come into play if the process becomes contentious.

As the executive committee began its meeting at 10 a.m., dozens of Trump supporters formed a line outside the Hillsboro Village office, voicing frustration over the fact that they weren't being allowed inside for the proceedings.

Robert Swope, Metro councilman for the Fourth District, met with the crowd of Trump supporters outside the meeting. He said a rule change, that occurred Saturday morning, allowed for the meeting to be closed to the public.

“Trust me, there will be a war,” he said of the delegate list to be discussed in the meeting. “I want everyone to remember this moment in the Tennessee GOP because this will come back to haunt them.”

Organizing officials maintained that the room had reached capacity, and that was why no other members of the public were allowed inside.







Trump camp accuses Tennessee GOP of stealing delegates

Trump supporter Jeremy Hayes, standing outside the meeting, said the flap hits at the very root of democracy.

“This goes beyond Republicans, Democrats, who you are supporting in the race — Trump, Cruz — it doesn’t matter,” he said. “If we allow parties to take away our votes, then we are no longer a republic.”

Haynessaid there should not be any controversy surrounding the meeting to appoint delegates.

"Donald Trump will still get every delegate he was entitled to get," Haynes said. "As will Marco Rubio, as will Ted Cruz."

Haynes fielded a variety of questions and accusations from executive committee members during an at-times frenzied debate over the slate that lasted over an hour.

Several committee members, including Rebecca Burke, said they opposed the slate because it included some people who clearly did not support Trump but were named as alternate delegates, snubbing actual supporters of the Republican front-runner.

"This is not about deciding which presidential candidate we like and don't like, and assigning to them people who are criticizing them on their Facebooks for goodness sakes. We should be ashamed to even entertain this slate," Burke said, while also questioning why the delegate list was changed until right before the beginning of Saturday's meeting.

One Trump alternative delegate, Melissa Gay, whose Facebook feed was cited Saturday as being critical of Trump, said she will “absolutely” vote for Trump as a delegate in Ohio, her third Republican convention.

“I’m a party person,” said Gay, who lives in Hendersonville. “Mr. Trump is not my first choice, but he is my choice now. … My constituents voted for me to best represent them. Obviously, Trump won and I’ll be representing them.”

While Trump's campaign has said that the delegates nominated are more aligned with the Republican establishment, Haynes said that is inaccurate.

“The Republican Party has worked diligently to be fair to all of the campaigns,” he said. “Obviously, in politics not everyone gets 100 percent of what they want."

Morris said he expects to see similar "insider elite games" to be done in the future as more states begin selecting their delegate slate.

Joey Garrison and Dave Boucher contributed to this report.

Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_. Reach Joel Ebert at 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.