The hunt for loyal delegates to the Republican National Convention — for weeks, a shadow primary that threatened to wrest the nomination away from Donald Trump — appears to have come to an end.

Trump vanquished his rivals at the ballot box and, for the first time, he pulled off the same feat in this weekend’s delegate elections, punching tickets for dozens of allies from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Minnesota. Ted Cruz, who quit the GOP primary on Tuesday, had skewered Trump in these quiet battles at state and local GOP conventions. But his forces were nowhere to be seen Saturday.


Trump’s supporters carried more than half of the 68 delegate elections in the four states holding contests this weekend — and most of the others were party elders who have vowed to support the GOP’s nominee, even if they haven’t explicitly backed Trump. Trump’s campaign also showcased a tighter relationship with party insiders, coordinated with state-party leaders to make sure pro-Trump paraphernalia littered the convention halls and that banners reading “Defeat Hillary! Vote Trump!” lined the rooms. A banner in South Carolina was even signed by delegates and marked for delivery to Trump’s New York headquarters as a memento of his success in the state.

“Our campaign worked closely with conservative and state party leadership across the country to unite our party and select delegates to the Republican National Convention who represent the will of the people, and the record 10.7 million votes cast, and counting, in support of our nominee,” said Brian Jack, delegate management director for Trump, who attended the North Carolina convention.

It was the clearest sign yet that the energy to stop Trump has faded and the party establishment — on a state level, at least — is slowly accepting that he's the presumptive nominee. Though Cruz had eyed these delegate fights as his greatest strength in the quest to block Trump, his supporters didn't appear eager to carry on the fight after he left the race, despite the Cruz team's urging that they follow through.

"Senator Cruz has suspended his campaign for President; however, it's clear that constitutional conservatives are planning to attend state and national conventions to fight for our party and for rules that return power to the grassroots as well as a constitutionally conservative platform," said Cruz campaign spokeswoman Alice Stewart in a Friday email.

Yet sources at this weekend's two state conventions — North and South Carolina — described anticlimactic, almost lethargic scenes.

Fights for Republican National Committee posts drew far more interest in North Carolina than the delegate battles.

In North Carolina, Trump had his best state convention showing yet: 21 of the 30 delegates elected identified as supporters and a handful of others expressed willingness to back him.

The results in South Carolina were less clear. Former John Kasich aide Andrew Boucher described the South Carolina event on Twitter as "like a wake." Barely half of the 900 eligible attendees showed up, and they elected a slate that included prominent state party leaders — from Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, a Trump supporter; to DeLinda Ridings, a former Marco Rubio backer who had been helping Kasich wrangle delegates; to LaDonna Ryggs, a top Cruz ally.

In all, South Carolina GOP insiders picked 26 delegates this weekend, and the slate appeared to be balanced, favoring party veterans rather than any particular candidate. It was a stark contrast from the local delegate fights in South Carolina before Cruz quit the race — the vast majority of the 24 local delegates picked described themselves as committed to Cruz.

In Virginia, where Trump found himself routed at the state convention last weekend, at least five of the nine delegate elections in three congressional district contests went to Trump allies including all three in the state's 3rd District and at least two of three in the state's 8th District.

And in Minnesota, Trump won two out of three delegate slots available in the state's 1st Congressional District.

Trump's success carried over into the backroom deliberations by delegates for leadership positions at the convention. In Maine late Thursday, the state's 23 delegates — 21 of whom backed Cruz — voted to put a Trump supporter, Alex Willette, on the powerful Convention Rules Committee.