Paul Ryan Won't Rule Out Accepting GOP Nomination If It Becomes Contested Convention, Report Says
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- After it's all said and done, will House Speaker Paul Ryan leave the Republican National Convention as the GOP presidential nominee?
In an interview with CNBC, Ryan would not rule out accepting the nomination if it becomes a contested convention.
"You know, I haven't given any thought to this stuff," Ryan, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, said. "People say, 'What about the contested convention?' I say, well, there are a lot of people running for president. We'll see. Who knows."
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It's still a slim shot there will be a brokered convention, but the idea is gaining some steam after Ohio Gov. John Kasich defeated Donald Trump in his home state's Republican primary. Trump currently has 574 delegates as of late Tuesday evening – 1,237 are needed to become the nominee.
"I actually think you should run for president if you're going to be president, if you want to be president," the House speaker told CNBC. "I'm not running for president. I made that decision, consciously, not to."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told reporters Monday that a brokered Republican convention would "spark an absolute revolt."
"The answer is not to cry in your beer about the support Donald has received and the answer is not to do what the Washington establishment hopes to do in their fevered dreams, which is they envision a brokered convention where the convention deadlocks and suddenly in from Washington the dealmakers parachute in with an establishment candidate who is their salvation," Cruz said. "That is not going to happen and it would park an absolute revolt, quite rightly, from the voters."
It's now a three-man race on the GOP side as Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out Tuesday night after losing the Florida primary to Trump.
Cruz currently has 365 delegates, and Kasich has 127.