--- title: Donald Trump Criticizes Virginia Republicans for 'Pledge' description: Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump launched a Twitter barrage Sunday against the Republican Party of Virginia. canonical: https://time.com/4162301/donald-trump-virginia-republican-pledge/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-28T17:09:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T13:12:50.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Criticizes Virginia Republicans for 'Pledge' og:description: He's angry over a pledge voters are asked to make. og:url: https://time.com/4162301/donald-trump-virginia-republican-pledge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85f7cf2e11689fe0/698876f4cd1bba27886feb2b/donald-trump-virginia-gop-pledge.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guests at a campaign rally on December 21, 2015 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Criticizes Virginia Republicans for 'Pledge' twitter:description: He's angry over a pledge voters are asked to make. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85f7cf2e11689fe0/698876f4cd1bba27886feb2b/donald-trump-virginia-gop-pledge.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Criticizes Virginia Republicans for 'Pledge' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### 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. ## Video: Donald Trump: 'I Have to Win' [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump: 'I Have to Win'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RaDVQ2PJ.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2015-12-09. Watch Time magazine's interview with Donald Trump for Person of the Year_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Jan 24, 2024 1:12 PM UTCPublished: Dec 28, 2015 5:09 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guests at a campaign rally on December 21, 2015 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guests at a campaign rally on December 21, 2015 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Jan 24, 2024 1:12 PM UTCPublished: Dec 28, 2015 5:09 PM UTC Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump launched a Twitter barrage Sunday against the Republican Party of Virginia over a nine-word “statement of affiliation” it using to ensure primary voters are in fact Republicans. The state party is requiring voters on March 1 to sign a document under the statement, “My signature below indicates that I am a Republican,” which Trump contends is an attempt to “disallow independent, unaffiliated and new voters.” The problem: he’s wrong. The voter pledge was adopted by the state party because Virginia does not have partisan voter registration, meaning there is no easy way to ensure that only Republican voters cast ballots in the primary, as is the case in Iowa, Nevada and many other states. In New Hampshire, unaffiliated voters may vote in the primary. South Carolina does not have party registration. Republican National Committee rules require that state parties work to ensure that only Republicans vote in their primaries. “Only persons eligible to vote who are deemed as a matter of public record to be Republicans pursuant to state law or, if voters are not enrolled by party, by Republican Party rules of a state, shall participate in any primary election,” the party’s bylaws state. The Virginia statement was designed to conform to that requirement. The statement has been construed as an “oath” or “pledge,” but carries no force of law or enforcement mechanism. And while some in the conservative grassroots—along with Trump—have criticized the state party as trying to keep unaffiliated voters from the primary, there’s nothing stopping an unaffiliated voter from signing the statement. In fact, the Virginia primary is substantially more open than other states where Trump has not lodged a complaint which require voters to be registered as Republicans. In a statement earlier this month, the John Findlay, the executive director of the state party, addressed criticism of the signature requirement: --- > “” --- > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/681143660705099776) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/681147489534119936) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/681148934685855744) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] I see your face. [ MUSIC ] My crowds have gotten larger. They've gotten even more energized to a point where we go into a place, whether it's New Hampshire, whether it's Iowa, whether it's Columbus, Ohio. No matter where I go, we have many more people than we anticipated. And the other thing I see now that I didn't see as much, tremendous energy, tremendous spirit. They want to make America great again. It's very simple. They want to make America great again. [ CROSSTALK ] [ APPLAUSE ] United States, Donald Trump. I am less politically correct than you're supposed to be and I will tell you, I don't do it purposely. I could be so politically correct you would sit with me and people would say, wow, he is such a fine person, he is a, I just don't have time for it. Political correctness takes a lot of time, takes a tremendous amount of time. We are lead by very, very stupid people. Mexico sends it's people. Oh I don't know what I said. They're not sending their best. I don't remember. Bringing drugs. Out of hundreds of deals that I've done. They're bringing crime. I've taken advantage of the laws of this country. They're rapists. We don't win anymore. And some, I assume, are good people. I'm really rich. I'll show you that myself. I was called by a major, major A reporter, whose name I won't use. He said, " How does it feel ?" I said, " How does what feel ?" " What you've done has never been done in the history of United States politics. I say, " What do you mean by that ?" He said, " Nobody has ever done what you've done. The energy, the crowds, the whole concept of what you've done has never been done ." And I said, " Well, what have I done? I haven't won ." If I don't win it's just a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. I will consider it a giant waste of time. He said, no you're wrong, if you don't win you have still done something that's never been done before. I tend to disagree with him, I think I have to win. I'm about winning. 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