Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s concerns about how delegates are allotted turned into a roar on Monday as he accused the campaign of rival Ted Cruz of buying votes after his weekend win in Colorado.
The New York billionaire, who has won many state contests for a delegate lead, is confronting Cruz’s strategy of using state party rules to secure more delegates in hopes of winning the nomination at a brokered Republican convention in July.
Cruz’s campaign has worked effectively in states that have a complex delegate allocation process, including Colorado, where the U.S. senator from Texas picked up 34 delegates on Saturday at the state Republican convention.
“The people out there are going crazy, in the Denver area and Colorado itself,” Trump said on Fox News. “They’re going absolutely crazy because they weren’t given a vote. This was given by politicians – it’s a crooked deal.”
Trump’s camp has amplified complaints about the delegate allocation system, which varies from state to state, as the prospect of a contested Republican convention looks more likely to determine the party’s nominee for the Nov. 8 election.
The Cruz campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump’s latest allegations but spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told CNN on Sunday: “More sour grapes from Trump who continues to lash out in tantrums every time he loses. We are winning because we’ve put in the hard work to build a superior organization.”
A Republican candidate needs 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination and avoid a convention floor fight, which could involve several rounds of voting for delegates. Trump has 743 delegates while Cruz has 545, according to an Associated Press count.
