Donald Trump expected to sign GOP loyalty pledge
The Republican National Committee (RNC) expects Donald Trump to sign the Republican party loyalty pledge, CBS News' Julianna Goldman confirmed Thursday, citing a source with knowledge of the matter.
The pledge, which has been sent to the GOP presidential candidates by the RNC, would have candidates promise to "endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is," and also forego a run "as an independent or write-in candidate," should they lose the Republican nomination.
Trump, the GOP frontrunner, is meeting with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Thursday in New York to discuss the loyalty pledge, and he has scheduled a press conference following their meeting. .
While the document is not legally binding, several states have "sore loser" laws on the books that would prevent a candidate who appeared in a party's primary and didn't get the nomination from filing as an independent candidate in the general election.
But the Associated Press reported that RNC officials had been "working privately with Trump's campaign for several weeks" to convince him not to undertake an independent run, should he lose the nomination. If he ran, it would almost certainly put him in the position of a GOP spoiler, who would draw votes away from the party's nominee and hand the election to the Democrats.
The loyalty pledge from the RNC can be seen in full below:
RNC Loyalty Pledge by Reena Flores