Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz called a brokered GOP convention "a possibility" that "could happen" given the wide range of candidates running for the Republican nomination.
"It is certainly a possibility. It hasn't happened in a long, long time, but you've obviously got a wide field, and if it stays splintered, that could happen," the Texas senator told radio host Hugh Hewitt last week.
A brokered convention occurs when a single candidate has not won enough delegates in the primary and caucus states to secure the nomination at the convention. When this happens, all the delegates are freed from their allegiances at the convention in hopes that political deal-making and a subsequent revote will produce a single victor. The last brokered convention occurred in 1952.
Cruz said that historically the first three primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina normally have "a disproportionate impact," but said his campaign was "planning for both contingencies."
"Historically, what has happened is that the first three states, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina had a disproportionate impact," he said. "And they certainly have a big impact on momentum. And so what we're doing is we're planning for both contingencies.
"We are going all in on Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and putting together the grassroots teams we have there, we've announced our state leadership teams. And in all three of those states, the state leadership teams are incredibly strong and robust."
Cruz said local press "repeatedly reported that the crowds" were often "double the size of Jeb Bush, double the size of Scott Walker."
