--- title: Donald Trump's Threat on Pledge Could Cost Him Delegates description: Donald Trump's announcement that he no longer stands by a loyalty pledge has thrown his hold on South Carolina's 50 delegates in doubt. canonical: https://time.com/4278295/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-south-carolina-delegates/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-31T18:52:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:17.066Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's Threat on Loyalty Pledge Could Cost Him Delegates og:description: From South Carolina. og:url: https://time.com/4278295/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-south-carolina-delegates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e23ad06d4997af8/69888d3dbc6cfc98473dc64c/donald-trump33.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns Near Green Bay, Wisconsin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Threat on Loyalty Pledge Could Cost Him Delegates twitter:description: From South Carolina. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e23ad06d4997af8/69888d3dbc6cfc98473dc64c/donald-trump33.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump's Threat on Pledge Could Cost Him South Carolina Delegates > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 31, 2016 6:52 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks to guests during a campaign in Appleton, Wisconsin, on March 30, 2016. Donald Trump speaks to guests during a campaign in Appleton, Wisconsin, on March 30, 2016. Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 31, 2016 6:52 PM UTC Donald Trump’s announcement that he no longer stands by a pledge to support the GOP has thrown his hold on South Carolina’s 50 delegates in doubt. The Palmetto State was one of several that required candidates to pledge their loyalty to the party’s eventual nominee in order to secure a slot on the primary ballot. Though Trump [won all of the state’s delegates](http://time.com/4231631/south-carolina-primary-results-republican-donald-trump-ted-cruz-marco-rubio-jeb-bush/) in the Feb. 20 primary, anti-Trump forces are plotting to contest their binding to Trump because of his threat on the pledge Tuesday. The loyalty pledge is nothing new in South Carolina, where it has been required for decades, but took on new focus in light of Trump’s public musings about a third-party run or withdrawing his support from the eventual nominee if he is stopped at a contested convention. When asked about if he still would pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee [during a town hall Tuesday](http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-nominee-pledge/index.html) with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Trump said “No. I don’t anymore,” adding that he has been “treated very unfairly.” Trump has been [hiring staff to ensure he hangs on to delegates](http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/03/trump%5Fsue%5Frepublican%5Frnc.html) in what could be a messy convention fight, but the latest threat appears to be an unforced error on his part. South Carolina Republican Party chairman Matt Moore gives credence to the anti-Trump claims. “Breaking South Carolina’s presidential-primary-ballot pledge raises some unanswered legal questions that no one person can answer,” he tells TIME. “However, a court or national convention Committee on Contests could resolve them. It could put delegates in jeopardy.” When Trump filed for the ballot in South Carolina he [signed a pledge](http://time.com/4021474/donald-trump-republican-loyalty/) stating to “hereby affirm that I generally believe in and intend to support the nominees and platform of the Republican Party in the November 8, 2016 general election.” South Carolina has yet to select delegates to the convention, and it is a state where Trump may already be on the defensive with delegates. South Carolina delegates to the national convention must have been delegates or alternates to the state’s 2015 GOP convention, a requirement that benefits candidates who appeal to the establishment. Those delegates would be bound to Trump on the first ballot according to state and Republican National Committee (RNC) rules. The challenge, which could only be filed once delegates are selected, would seek to allow them to be free agents on the first ballot, thereby keeping Trump further from the key 1,237 figure he needs to secure the nomination. Similar challenges could also be filed in other states that added loyalty pledges. The potential fight over delegates comes as Trump is meeting with RNC chairman Reince Priebus Thursday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4278295/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-south-carolina-delegates/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4278295/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-south-carolina-delegates/"},"headline":"Trump's Threat on Pledge Could Cost Him South Carolina Delegates","datePublished":"2016-03-31T18:52:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:17.066Z","description":"Donald Trump's announcement that he no longer stands by a loyalty pledge has thrown his hold on South Carolina's 50 delegates in doubt.","url":"https://time.com/4278295/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-south-carolina-delegates/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","South Carolina","republican convention","2016 Republican Convention"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e23ad06d4997af8/69888d3dbc6cfc98473dc64c/donald-trump33.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e23ad06d4997af8/69888d3dbc6cfc98473dc64c/donald-trump33.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns Near Green Bay, Wisconsin","caption":"GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns Near Green Bay, Wisconsin","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4278295/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-south-carolina-delegates/","name":"Trump's Threat on Pledge Could Cost Him South Carolina Delegates"}}]}] ```