Republican National Committee member Randy Evans said Wednesday that Donald Trump would likely be able to secure the Republican nomination if he captures anything more than 1,100 delegates, short of the 1,237 delegates needed for a simple majority.
"If Donald Trump exceeds 1,100 votes, he will become the nominee even though he may not have 1,237," Evans said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Evans' comment is good news for Trump if it's a sentiment shared by other RNC members, since Trump is at risk of falling short of a majority of delegates by the time of the convention in July. But Evans also warned that if Trump slips much more, the nomination would likely fall to someone else.
"If he gets less than 1,000 delegates, then I think we're looking at a contested convention that could go on for many, many days," Evans said.
"And then in the middle, there's that grey area between 1,000 and 1,100, and that's where the unbound delegates or the delegates that have been released by other candidates come into play to see if there are enough of those to get either Cruz or Trump over the finish line," he added.
As of this week, Trump leads Cruz in the delegate race 743-545, but he's expected to pick up most of New York's delegates next week, and has polled well in other states whose primaries are approaching.
