JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Carl Bearden will attend the Republican National Convention as a Missouri delegate pledged to support Donald Trump for president, but he doesn't plan to actually do so.
Rather, Bearden is part of coalition of dissident delegates trying to undermine Trump's expected nomination during the convention, which begins Monday in Cleveland.
"I'm going to go and stir the pot," said Bearden, a conservative activist and former state lawmaker from St. Charles. He added: "One way or the other, what I would like to do is persuade enough people not to vote for Trump."
Trump's foes face an uphill challenge both logistically and practically. They're first trying to change party rules to allow delegates to cast "a vote of conscience" and abandon Trump. They then must persuade enough delegates to actually do so.
Trump's team is rallying delegates to remain true to the outcome of their state primaries, caucuses and conventions, which gave him enough pledged delegates to become the presumed nominee. Party officials are seeking to avoid further upheaval as the November election approaches.
Missouri Republican Party leaders say Trump will receive votes from at least 37 of the state's 52 delegates, the amount allotted to him as a result of winning the statewide vote and five of the eight congressional districts in the March 15 primary. The remaining 15 delegates were pledged to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz but are now free to support whomever they want because Cruz is no longer running.
Bearden was co-chairman of the Cruz campaign in Missouri. But he was elected as a Trump delegate to the national convention after Cruz supporters outmaneuvered Trump loyalists at regional caucuses and the state convention.
Rather than vote for Trump, "I would probably abstain," Bearden told The Associated Press.
It's questionable whether he actually could do that.
Under current Republican Party rules, delegates' votes are to be tallied for the candidate to whom they are bound as a result of state party primaries, conventions and rules.
That means even if a Missouri delegate for Trump attempts to abstain or vote for someone else, that person's vote still would be recorded for Trump, said Jonathan Prouty, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party.
Missouri's two members of the convention rules committee - Harvey Tettlebaum and Pat Thomas - said they received hundreds of emails lobbying them to back a rule change freeing delegates of their obligation to vote for Trump. Both voted against the change Thursday when the rules panel defeated it.
Trump opponents now are trying to gather enough signatures of rules committee members to force the issue to be taken up by the full convention.
Thomas said it could set a bad precedent to adopt a last-moment change to rules that were laid out in advance of primaries and caucuses that drew millions of voters nationwide.
"I feel like as a candidate you agreed to that, so why are we trying to back that up now?" Thomas said.
Even if given the chance to dump Trump in favor of someone else, some Missouri delegates said they wouldn't do so.
"I think it's wrong to not honor the clear, honest winner of our March 15 primary," said Kay Hoflander, of Higginsville, who originally supported Cruz but plans to fulfill her duty as a Trump delegate to the national convention.