--- title: Donald Trump: Republican Leaders Will Support Him as Nominee description: Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said he thinks Republican leaders will fall in line and support him if he wins the party nomination canonical: https://time.com/4258870/donald-trump-republican-leaders-nominee/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-15T12:59:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:04.069Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says Republican Leaders Would Support Him as Nominee og:description: "The biggest people in the party are calling" og:url: https://time.com/4258870/donald-trump-republican-leaders-nominee/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a70733d75083d2e/69888af3a988cad4126b6f95/donald-trump-republicans.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In NC One Day Ahead Of Primary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says Republican Leaders Would Support Him as Nominee twitter:description: "The biggest people in the party are calling" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a70733d75083d2e/69888af3a988cad4126b6f95/donald-trump-republicans.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says Republican Leaders Would Support Him as Nominee ## Video: TIME Raw: Ben Carson Endorses Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Ben Carson Endorses Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FgJaY31C.m3u8) (2:07)  _Published 2016-03-11_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 15, 2016 12:59 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump exits the stage during a campaign rally at Lenoir-Rhyne University March 14 in Hickory, N.C. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump exits the stage during a campaign rally at Lenoir-Rhyne University March 14 in Hickory, N.C.Sean Rayford/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 15, 2016 12:59 PM UTC Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said he thinks [Republican leaders will fall in line and support him](http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-i-have-gop-s-support-they-re-already-t80166) if he clinches the party nomination. Trump, who has touted his distance from the party establishment, said in an interview with the TODAY show on Tuesday that he’s already receiving calls from Republicans who want to sit down with him. “The biggest people in the party are calling,” he said, declining to name names beyond mentioning a call he received last week from House Speaker Paul Ryan, who also talked to other candidates about the party’s policy agenda, the [Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-is-ruining-paul-ryans-plan/2016/03/07/261264c4-e252-11e5-8d98-4b3d9215ade1%5Fstory.html). “A lot of people are calling because they see what’s happening,” said Trump, who has faced opposition from party leaders, even has he has won the approval of Republican voters. **Read more:** [Why Tuesday Could Determine If Trump Wins](http://time.com/4258403/donald-trump-ohio-florida-tuesday/) Ahead of another important set of primaries on Tuesday, Trump also said he’s not worried about the threat posed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich in his home state’s primary. Ohio awards delegates in a winner-take-all manner, and a Trump victory in the state would make it increasingly difficult for another candidate to edge him out for the nomination. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4258870/donald-trump-republican-leaders-nominee/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4258870/donald-trump-republican-leaders-nominee/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says Republican Leaders Would Support Him as Nominee","datePublished":"2016-03-15T12:59:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:04.069Z","description":"\"The biggest people in the party are calling\"","url":"https://time.com/4258870/donald-trump-republican-leaders-nominee/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a70733d75083d2e/69888af3a988cad4126b6f95/donald-trump-republicans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a70733d75083d2e/69888af3a988cad4126b6f95/donald-trump-republicans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In NC One Day Ahead Of Primary","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In NC One Day Ahead Of Primary","creditText":"Sean Rayford/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/4258870/donald-trump-republican-leaders-nominee/","name":"Donald Trump Says Republican Leaders Would Support Him as Nominee"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Ben Carson Endorses Donald Trump","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FgJaY31C/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-11T15:13:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FgJaY31C.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4258870/donald-trump-republican-leaders-nominee/","duration":"PT2M7S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4258870/donald-trump-republican-leaders-nominee/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```