Former Republican presidential candidate Jim Gilmore was not selected as a delegate to the GOP national convention from Virginia.
Gilmore, who is also a former Virginia governor, state attorney general, and Republican National Committee chairman, put his name in the running, but was not voted in.
Supporters of Ted Cruz's campaign engineered a slate of delegates to block Donald Trump from getting the presidential nomination, according to
a Washington Post report.
Gilmore told the Post that he had been "informally assured" of a spot on the slate, "that it was a no-brainer."
Gilmore slammed the Cruz campaign's maneuvers. He told the Post that Cruz was trying "to take a state where the people went and voted in an open primary for Donald Trump and turn it into a Ted Cruz state."
"It was a very ruthless display," Gilmore added.
Gilmore won 145 votes in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, gaining 12 votes in Iowa and 133 in New Hampshire, according to
the Daily Mail.
The former Virginia governor said because he has not endorsed a candidate in the race, neither the Trump or Cruz sides wanted him as a delegate.
"They were decapitating any potential for alternative leadership on the delegation, Gilmore said.
Ken Cuccinelli, Cruz surrogate and former Virginia attorney general, said the struggle between Trump and Cruz took priority over accommodating "all sorts of different folks."
Gilmore said he would attend the convention.
In April during a CNN interview,
Gilmore weighed in on the possibility that he might still be in the running for president in the case of a contested convention.
"I don't expect to be the nominee," Gilmore said. He said he wants to "play a constructive role."
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