Kendal Unruh
| Kendal Unruh | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | Jim Elliot Christian School |
| Role: | Teacher |
| Location: | Denver, Colorado |
| Expertise: | Education |
| Affiliation: | Republican |
| Website: | Official website |
Kendal Unruh is a teacher at the Denver metro area Christian school, Jim Elliot Christian School.[1] Unruh has been elected to all of the Republican National Conventions since 1988.[1]
Unruh was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Colorado. Unruh was one of 30 delegates from Colorado initially bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz at the convention. Colorado's delegates were later released since Cruz withdrew from the race.[2][3] Cruz suspended his campaign on May 3, 2016. At the time, he had approximately 546 bound delegates. For more on what happened to his delegates, see this page.
On April 9, 2016, Unruh was elected at the Colorado Republican Party State Convention to serve on the Rules Committee of the 2016 Republican National Convention in July 2016.[4]
Career
Kendal Unruh is a conservative activist from Colorado. Since 1988, Unruh has been elected to every Republican National Convention.[1] In 2008, she served on the Republican National Committee's Platform Committee.[5] Unruh teaches at the Jim Elliot Christian School which is located in the Denver metro area. She teaches government and has taught at the school since 2014.[1]
Conservative Christian Summit
Every year since its inception, Unruh has attended the Western Conservative Summit, which is a conservative gathering, often hosting notable Republican politicians, that is sponsored by the Centennial Institute and the Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colorado.[6][7] In 2015, Unruh canceled a family vacation to attend the summit; at the time, the summit was facing criticism for its exclusion of the Colorado Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group that did not support the summit's view on same-sex marriage. Unruh stated that the Log Cabin Republicans were "intent on damaging the brand" of the summit and that it was her "obligation to show support of WCS...That is how deeply held my convictions are that we, as Christians, stand up in the face of religious intolerance. Also, my children are well aware of the sacrifices that were made to support fellow Christians when their worldview was under attack, so that life lesson is invaluable, and it was worth the cost."[7]
2016 Republican National Convention
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
Unruh was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Colorado. Unruh was bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz.[8]
Rules committee
- See also: RNC Rules Committee, 2016
On April 9, 2016, Kendal Unruh was elected at the Colorado Republican Party State Convention to serve on the Rules Committee of the 2016 Republican National Convention in July 2016.[4] Talking about Cruz, Unruh described the Texas Senator as not "just doing his homework by devoting time and resources to the meticulous process of winning over delegates, but by his record he’s winning these people over by being a lifelong, consistent conservative. That is something that money can’t buy. That is something that winning debates can’t buy."[9]
Appointment process
The convention Rules Committee in 2016 consisted of one male and one female delegate from each state and territorial delegation. The Rules of the Republican Party required each delegation to elect from its own membership representatives to serve on the Rules Committee.
Opposition to Donald Trump
On June 17, 2016, several reports emerged in different media outlets identifying Unruh as the "leader" of an effort to prevent Donald Trump from winning the nomination at the national convention. At the center of the effort was a rules amendment supported by Unruh that would allow a delegate to vote at the convention for a candidate other than the one to whom he or she was allocated, if doing so went against that delegate's conscience. According to NBC News, the proposal read as follows:[10]
| “ | If any such delegate notifies the secretary of his or her intent to cast a vote of conscience, whether personal or religious, each such delegate shall be unbound and unconstrained by these rules on any given vote, including the first ballot for the selection of the Republican nominee for President of the United States, without the risk of challenge, sanction, or retribution by the Republican National Committee.[11] | ” |
Unruh stated, "This literally is an ‘Anybody but Trump’ movement. Nobody has any idea who is going to step in and be the nominee, but we’re not worried about that. We’re just doing that job to make sure that he’s not the face of our party."[12]
Unruh held a conference call on June 16, 2016, with 30 delegates from 15 states; at that time, the movement had established regional coordinators in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Washington, and a few other states. However, in order for the effort to oppose Trump to have succeeded, Unruh and others would have needed a majority of the Rules Committee members to support the change in the rules on July 14 and 15, when the committee met. If it passed, it would have needed to be ratified the following week. The effort was receiving outside aid from Republican operatives who worked to raise $2.5 million to run ads suggesting that delegates are able to vote for whomever they wish. Citizens in Charge Foundation was funding outreach for the campaign. The foundation also published a book by Curly Haugland, who has argued that delegates are not bound and can vote freely.[12]
Convention meeting
On July 14, 2016, Unruh was involved in a closed door meeting with Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus. The Rules Committee had stopped proceedings for the closed door session, which included Sen. Mike Lee (Utah), Ken Cuccinelli, Solomon Yue (Ore.), Jim Bopp (Ind.), Morton Blackwell (Va.), and Ross Little Jr. (La.). Unruh led the contingency of delegates that advocated for delegates to vote at the convention according to their conscience.[13][14][15]
At the main committee meeting on July 14, Unruh proposed amending Rule 38 to allow delegates to vote their conscience "on all matters" at the convention, saying that a delegate's ability to vote his or her conscience is "a God-given right, and it should not be taken away by the RNC." The amendment failed in a voice vote.
Later, when asked by ABC News if she intended to attempt to bring the conscience clause to the convention floor as a minority report, Unruh said, "Why mess with trying to whip the votes again with a minority report? It's a waste of time. ... We now go into Plan B. Plan B is that the delegates take ownership of that inherent right. ... [The delegates] have to now take the baton. The delegates have the power: Take the power."[16]
Delegate rules
At-large and congressional district delegates from Colorado to the 2016 Republican National Convention were elected at district conventions and at the state convention. 2016 Colorado GOP bylaws did not require delegates to pledge their support to a specific candidate. If a delegate chose to pledge his or her support, however, Colorado GOP bylaws stipulated that the delegate was bound to the candidate to whom he or she pledged their support on their intent-to-run form through the first round of voting at the national convention unless released by the candidate or if the candidate's name was not placed on the nominating ballot.
Colorado caucus
- See also: Presidential election in Colorado, 2016
In August 2015, the Colorado GOP cancelled its presidential preference poll, which was scheduled to coincide with the Republican caucuses on March 1, 2016. According to The Denver Post, the Republican executive committee "voted to cancel the traditional presidential preference poll after the national party changed its rules to require a state's delegates to support the candidate that wins the caucus vote." Colorado Republicans still sent delegates to the Republican National Convention in July 2016. District-level and at-large delegates (34) were bound according to the preferred candidates indicated on their intent-to-run forms. RNC delegates (3) were unbound, meaning that they did not have to pledge their support to a given candidate.[17] Though Republican precinct caucuses were held on March 1 in Colorado, Colorado Republican National Convention delegates were chosen at district conventions and the Colorado state GOP convention in April.[18] Colorado Republican Party rules required participants in the district conventions and statewide convention to have participated in the precinct caucuses.[19]
Delegate allocation
Colorado had 37 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 21 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's seven congressional districts). Thirteen delegates served at large. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as delegates to the Republican National Convention.[20][21]
In 2015, the Republican Party of Colorado decided not to conduct a presidential preference poll in 2016. As a result, according to the Republican National Committee, all delegates were bound according to the preferred candidates indicated on their intent-to-run forms. RNC delegates were unbound, meaning that they did not have to pledge their support to a given candidate.[20][22]
Top influencers by state
- See also: Top influencers by state
Influencers in American politics are power players who help get candidates elected, put through policy proposals, cause ideological changes, and affect popular perceptions. They can take on many forms: politicians, lobbyists, advisors, donors, corporations, industry groups, labor unions, single-issue organizations, nonprofits, to name a few.
In 2016, Ballotpedia identified Kendal Unruh as a top influencer by state. We identified top influencers across the country through several means, including the following:
- Local knowledge of our professional staff
- Surveys of activists, thought leaders and journalists from across the country and political spectrum
- Outreach to political journalists in each state who helped refine our lists
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Kendal Unruh Colorado delegate. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Ted Cruz
- RNC Rules Committee, 2016
- Republican National Convention, 2016
- Republican Party of Colorado
- Guy Short
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Jim Elliot Christian School, "Kendal Unruh," accessed April 13, 2016
- ↑ The Journal, "Colorado delegates back Cruz over Trump," July 20, 2016
- ↑ Colorado GOP, "CO GOP 2016 State Convention Results," accessed April 25, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ballotpedia:Charles Aull, Email communication with Colorado GOP Communications Director Kyle Kohli," April 12, 2016
- ↑ C-Span, "Kendal Unruh," accessed April 13, 2016
- ↑ Centennial Institute, "Western Conservative Summit," accessed April 13, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Denver Post, "Douglas County family defends Western Conservative Summit," April 20, 2015
- ↑ Colorado GOP, "CO GOP 2016 State Convention Results," accessed April 25, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedanti - ↑ NBC News, "Campaign to Dump Trump at Republican Convention Emerges," June 17, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Washington Post, "Dozens of GOP delegates launch new push to halt Donald Trump," June 17, 2016
- ↑ The Columbus Dispatch, "RNC rules committee resumes but do they have a deal with Trump foes?" July 14, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia report, Republican National Convention, Cleveland, Ohio, July 14, 2016
- ↑ ABC News, "Anti-Trump GOP Delegates Negotiate Behind Closed Doors on Rules Revolt," July 14, 2016
- ↑ ABC News, "Anti-Trump Efforts Abandon Push to Force Floor Vote to Unbind," July 15, 2016
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Colorado Republicans cancel presidential vote at 2016 caucus," August 25, 2015
- ↑ Colorado GOP, "Caucus/Assembly/Convention 2016," January 19, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedwsj - ↑ 20.0 20.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Colorado Republicans cancel presidential vote at 2016 caucus," August 25, 2015
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