This year’s presidential election has been anything but ordinary. Regardless of who wins, this could be an election of firsts.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be the first female president. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would be the oldest and first Jewish president. Ohio Gov. John Kasich would make Ohio the state with the most presidents. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) would be the first Hispanic president. And business mogul Donald Trump would be the first president without a political background.

What’s also different about this election is the possibility of a contested convention. On April 24, Cruz and Kasich announced they would be joining forces in an attempt to keep Trump at bay. In the agreement, they decided Kasich would not campaign in Indiana —  whose primary will be held Tuesday — if Cruz would not campaign in Oregon and New Mexico. This strategy is theoretically described as a divide and conquer tactic, which is to abandon campaigning efforts in certain states so Republican primary voters only have to choose either Trump or one of them.

Kasich has said this agreement was not meant to discourage voters in these states with upcoming primaries.

“I’ve never told them not to vote for me,” Kasich told CNN. “They ought to vote for me. But I’m not over there campaigning and spending resources.”

However, Cruz said on April 28 that there was no alliance, and that the two candidates are working independently of each other.

To get some insight on how this “alliance” affects the upcoming primary elections, The Daily Orange interviewed Christopher Faricy, an assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University who specializes in American politics, via email.

The Daily Orange: What do you think of Cruz and Kasich’s decision to attempt to block Trump from receiving the nomination? Do they have any chance of succeeding?

Christopher Faricy: It is a sign of desperation. There’s an old saying in politics: If there is a campaign to stop candidate X, then bet on candidate X to win.

The D.O.: What exactly happens in a contested convention?

C.F.: If no one candidate gets a majority of delegates on the first ballot then the convention becomes open. Most delegates are now freed up to vote for different candidates and the voting continues until someone gets a majority.

The D.O.: What will happen if the Republican convention blocks Trump’s nomination in the presidential election, even if he has enough delegates? How likely is it that they would block it? Isn’t that saying the people’s votes do not matter?

C.F.: There is little chance that Republicans will block Trump at the convention. Republican elites are coming around to accepting that Trump will be their presidential nominee. The vast majority of Republican voters have indicated that the nominee with the most votes should be the nominee even if they do not hit the magic number of 1237.

Published on May 2, 2016 at 9:58 pm

Contact Caroline: cbarthol@syr.edu