Will Republicans Vote In Presidential Primaries? Hawaii 5th State Party To Cancel Contest

The Hawaiian Republican Party has canceled its statewide presidential primary and committed its 19 convention delegates to President Trump, bringing to five the number of state organizations that have decided to forgo their contests.

Few challengers have stepped forward to confront Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld announced a challenge in April and former Rep. Joe Walsh followed suit in August. Both are considered longshots and lagging way behind Trump in polls despite the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

South Carolina Republicans facing a lawsuit for deciding Sept. 7 to cancel their primary. The suit alleges the action deprives voters of being able to choose a candidate and violated party rules that require such a decision to be made two years in advance. The party cited the costs of holding a primary as justification.

Republicans also have canceled their presidential primaries and caucuses in Arizona, Kansas and Nevada.

The Hawaii announcement came Wednesday.

The Minnesota and Georgia Republican parties have said Trump will be the only presidential candidate on their tickets.

“For a president who claims to be beloved, Donald Trump and his operatives are going to extraordinary lengths to eliminate competition and avoid actually facing voters,” Joe Hunter, a spokesperson for the Weld campaign, told The Hill. “Republicans everywhere, including Hawaii, deserve real choices, not the coronation of a deeply flawed incumbent who is intent on taking the party down with him.”

“The Republican party apparatus has been hijacked away from its members by Trump loyalists,” Walsh said in a statement, accusing the GOP of behaving like “a dictatorship” and violating its own principles.

A RealClearPolitics average of recent polls indicates Trump has 85.6% of support among Republicans, versus 2.4% each for Weld and Walsh. An Economist/YouGov poll conducted Saturday through Tuesday gave Trump 88% support, compared to 2% for Weld and 1% for Walsh among Republicans. Among those who voted in 2016, support for Trump soars to 93%.