Texas is expected to give 37 of its 38 electoral votes to Donald Trump on Monday afternoon when the state’s Electoral College members convene at the state Capitol in Austin.
The lone holdout, Dallas paramedic Chris Suprun, announced in an opinion piece with The Hill on Monday that he will vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich instead.
“I’m gravely concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin helped Trump win the Republican primary,” Suprun said in the op-ed. “In light of the mounting evidence of foreign influence undermining our election, delegates to the Electoral College should have been briefed by the CIA.”
Suprun is a “faithless elector,” a term used to describe Electoral College members who buck their parties’ preferred nominees and vote for someone else. Texas does not punish electors who stray from the winning nominees.
Electors across the country will convene in state capitals on Monday to cast their ballots for president. Donald Trump, who received 306 projected electoral votes on Nov. 8, is expected to formally win the presidency despite the efforts of some Democrats to convince Republican electors to vote for someone else.
There are 538 electoral votes in total, and 270 are required to win the presidency. In the absence of a majority, the House of Representatives chooses the president among the top three candidates.
Suprun suggested in the op-ed that other Republican electors are willing to abandon their party’s nominee, but there’s little evidence that’s the case. Harvard law professor and onetime presidential candidate Larry Lessig said there were 20 Republican electors considering voting against Trump, but he did not offer any names.
Even if 20 electors switched their votes to a third candidate or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump would still have 286 projected electoral votes and would assume the presidency.
Suprun, who recently faced questions about his record as a first responder, is the only elector to publicly announce his support for another candidate.
Another elector from Texas, Art Sisneros of Dayton, stepped down from the Electoral College last month and will be replaced before the vote later today. A Republican elector from Georgia resigned months ago after Trump became the party’s nominee.
Alex Daugherty: 202-383-6049, @alextdaugherty
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