On Sunday night, the campaign teams of Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced that they have decided to join forces. The goal? Prevent Donald Trump from winning the party’s presidential nomination. The candidates plan to split up campaigning in the states that haven’t had primaries yet, in order to keep Trump from getting the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination without a fight. If Trump can’t get that many delegates, the nominee will be decided at the Republican National Convention—and Cruz and Kasich could have a shot at winning.
“To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico,” said Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, in a statement.
Trump is currently the frontrunner of the Republican party and won big in the New York primary last week, taking 89 of the state’s 95 delegates. He’s likely to win the five states voting Tuesday, as well.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Cruz and Kasich have been resisting the urge to team up with each other for months now, even as others have suggested that they encourage voters to support other candidates to stop Trump from winning the nomination. Trump, of course, has been vocal about the announcement:
Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016
“When two candidates who have no path to victory get together to stop a candidate who is expanding the party by millions of voters, (all of whom will drop out if I am not in the race) it is yet another example of everything that is wrong in Washington and our political system,” Trump said in a statement. Trump has recently been criticizing the delegate system lately, claiming that it’s “rigged.” The agreement made between Senator Cruz and Senator Kasich might add fuel to his fire.