--- title: GOP Debate: Trump Brushes Off a Contested Convention description: Trump said he thinks whoever gets the most delegates should win canonical: https://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-11T04:37:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:58.981Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Brushes Off the Prospect of a Contested Convention og:description: "Make me president." og:url: https://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a90bf7f4fbaf191/69888a9abc6cfced403dc1ae/trump_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4819 og:image:height: 2711 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate in Miami og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Brushes Off the Prospect of a Contested Convention twitter:description: "Make me president." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a90bf7f4fbaf191/69888a9abc6cfced403dc1ae/trump_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Brushes Off the Prospect of a Contested Convention > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: CNN Republican Debate: Watch Rubio Slam Trump on Islam Remarks [Watch (HLS stream): CNN Republican Debate: Watch Rubio Slam Trump on Islam Remarks](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cB8jKo8A.m3u8) (0:24)  _Published 2016-03-11_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 11, 2016 4:37 AM UTC  Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate sponsored by CNN at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, March 10, 2016. Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate sponsored by CNN at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, March 10, 2016. Carlo Allegri—Reuters by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 11, 2016 4:37 AM UTC Donald Trump seems to have the answer to the prospect of a contested Republican National convention. “Make me president,” the billionaire said at [Thursday’s Republican debate](http://time.com/4254993/republican-debate-miami-florida-twelfth-donald-trump-ted-cruz/?3&xid=homepage). Though Trump holds a solid delegate lead on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but could be in trouble if he doesn’t land some big wins in the remaining primary voting contests and collect the 1237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. At the debate, Trump argued that whichever of the four remaining Republican presidential hopefuls ends up with the most delegates should win. “I think whoever gets to the top position as opposed to solving that artificial number that was by somebody, which is a very random number,” he said. “I think that whoever gets the most delegates should win. That’s what I think.” Without securing the nomination Trump could be in for trouble come the convention in July, where [some establishment Republicans may try to stop the front-runner from becoming their nominee](http://time.com/4190037/donald-trump-ted-cruz-establishment-sides/). Trump is [already preparing for this scenario](http://time.com/4254994/donald-trump-contested-convention-loyal-delegates/) as he has launched a new effort to secure delegates ahead of a contested convention. The campaign is reaching out to potential delegates in order to ensure that in July, they stay loyal to Trump. Searches of “delegate math” were [at their highest since Google started keeping records in 2005](https://twitter.com/GoogleTrends/status/708136156198785024), as debate viewers tried to calculate the delegate count on their own. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/"},"headline":"Trump Brushes Off the Prospect of a Contested Convention","datePublished":"2016-03-11T04:37:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:58.981Z","description":"Trump think whoever gets the most delegates should win","url":"https://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","republicans","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Debates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a90bf7f4fbaf191/69888a9abc6cfced403dc1ae/trump_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a90bf7f4fbaf191/69888a9abc6cfced403dc1ae/trump_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate in Miami","caption":"Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate in Miami","creditText":"Carlo Allegri—Reuters","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/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/","name":"Trump Brushes Off the Prospect of a Contested Convention"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"CNN Republican Debate: Watch Rubio Slam Trump on Islam Remarks","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cB8jKo8A/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-11T03:00:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cB8jKo8A.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/","duration":"PT24S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```