FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2016

Delegate count recalculated after Rubio suspends

ANCHORAGE - Ted Cruz and Donald Trump will each have 14 delegates assigned to them, now that Sen. Marco Rubio has suspended his campaign.

According to Alaska Republican Party rules, (Article 5, Section 15, Paragraph 9) if a presidential candidate drops out before the state convention, the percentage of national delegates pledged to that candidate "shall be reapportioned among the Qualified Presidential Candidates." The delegate count is recalculated according to a mathematical formula.

"For those who wondered why it was so important that we determine which district they were in before they voted in the Presidential Preference Poll, it's for exactly this type of scenario, where we have to recalculate the 28  bound votes," said Peter S. Goldberg, Party chairman. "Marco Rubio has suspended his campaign, but we have not yet chosen delegates. All we have done at this point is recalculate."

Prior to that recalculation, Ted Cruz would have had 12 delegates, Donald Trump 11, and Marco Rubio 5.

The party state convention takes place in Fairbanks, April 28-30. The national convention is in Cleveland, Ohio on July 18-21.

Ed. - Rubio, however,  sought to keep his delegates bound to vote for him through at least the first round at the National Convention.  NBC News tweeted the letter on March 29; the text reprinted below including the mispelling of "United":


Mr. Peter Goldberg
Chairman of the Alaska Republican Party
22501 Eagle Glacier Loop
Eagle River, AK 99577


Dear Chairman:

I write this letter to inform you that the decision to suspend my campaign for President of the Untied States is not intended to release any National Convention Delegates bound to me as a result of the 2016 delegate selection proces that took place in your State. It is my desire at this time that the delegates allocated to me by your rules remain bound to vote for me on at least the first nominating balllot at the National Conventoin.


Thank you for your attention to this matter.

                                                    Sincerely,

                                                    Marco Rubio

CC:

Reince Priebus
310 First Street SE,
Washington, DC 20003
Also via email,  [omitted-ed]

Ed. As reported by FOX News, the party's Central Committee approved Rubio's request in a vote at the state convention.  The key point was that Rubio suspended rather than ended his campaign.  See: Dan Springer et al. "Alaska GOP votes to let Rubio keep delegates through convention."  FOX News, April 29, 2016.