Texas elector threatens to not vote Trump

[Joe Republic]

Chris Suprun is a member of the Electoral College from Texas, a state the GOP can reliably count on to deliver votes every four years to the Republican presidential nominee.

But this year, with Donald Trump sitting atop the ticket, Suprun is warning he might not cast his electoral vote for the GOP standard-bearer. Indeed, he won’t rule out throwing his vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton if Trump doesn’t moderate his demeanor.

This is particularly interesting.  The last time a faithless elector voted for somebody not from their own party was in 1972 (a Nixon elector voted for the Libertarian ticket).  But I don't believe any faithless elector has ever voted for the main opposition candidate, ever.  This is a pretty big deal... or would have been if he'd kept his mouth shut and then followed through on his flirtatious plan.

[Joe Republic]

Chris Suprun is a member of the Electoral College from Texas, a state the GOP can reliably count on to deliver votes every four years to the Republican presidential nominee.

But this year, with Donald Trump sitting atop the ticket, Suprun is warning he might not cast his electoral vote for the GOP standard-bearer. Indeed, he won’t rule out throwing his vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton if Trump doesn’t moderate his demeanor.

This is particularly interesting.  The last time a faithless elector voted for somebody not from their own party was in 1972 (a Nixon elector voted for the Libertarian ticket).  But I don't believe any faithless elector has ever voted for the main opposition candidate, ever.  This is a pretty big deal... or would have been if he'd kept his mouth shut and then followed through on his flirtatious plan.

Yeah it would be unprecedented.  1960 was interesting because a number of electors from Alabama and Mississippi voted for Harry Byrd instead of JFK, but that was due to the way the elector slates were presented on the ballot rather than faithlessness.  In 1988 a West Virginia elector voted for Bentsen rather than Dukakis, and in 2004 a Minnesota elector voted for Edwards rather than Kerry.

Funnily enough, in all three of Richard Nixon's elections, one of his electors voted for somebody else.  In 1960 an elector in Oklahoma voted for Harry Byrd as well, in 1968 an elector in North Carolina voted for Wallace, and then in 1972 was the aforementioned elector in Virginia who voted Libertarian.