As Sen. Ted Cruz and Texas Governor John Kasich make moves to stop Donald Trump's momentum, the GOP frontrunner is making moves of his own and has reportedly hired another veteran political operative to help him win the delegates required to secure the nomination.
Ken McKay will join as a senior adviser for Trump's campaign on the team led by convention manager Paul Manafort. A formal announcement is expected later Monday.
Trump's focus for this recent acquisition is to offset the damage Cruz has done to getting the necessary 1,237 delegates needed to win the Republican presidential nomination by June 8, which would lead to a brokered convention if successful. At this point, its impossible for Cruz to win the nomination through conventional methods, but he has successfully stymied Trump's efforts somewhat by taking advantage of the local convention process to acquire delegates in states that have already held primaries and caucuses.
Furthermore, the hire is a sign of Trump's efforts to add experienced GOP strategists to his inner circle who can hopefully navigate the workings of the Republican Party as it slowly unites against him.
McKay, who worked as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's presidential campaign manager, is the third campaign manager of a former rival to work under Trump's banner. A week and a half ago, Trump picked up Rick Wiley, who managed Scott Walker's campaign before the Wisconsin governor left the race in September. And in late March, he picked up Ed Brookover, who was Ben Carson's campaign manager before the neurosurgeon dropped out.
McKay is an experienced adviser who has seen plenty of success throughout his career. He ran gubernatorial races in Rhode Island for Donald Cariceri in 2002 and 2006, winning both. He also helped Florida Republican Rick Scott claim the governor's office in 2010.
"This is a serious strategist and tactician," said Curt Anderson, who was former presidential candidate Bobby Jindal's chief strategist. "This is not a guy who wastes his time going on cable TV and running his mouth. Trump hiring Ken McKay is a bad thing for the Ted Cruz campaign, I can assure you of that."
Hopefully for Trump, Anderson's declaration turns out to be true. On Sunday evening, strategists for Cruz and Kasich announced an alliance meant to put a hamper on Trump's momentum in three states: Oregon, New Mexico and Indiana.
Trump was unamused, referring to the alliance as "a horrible act of desperation from two campaigns who have horribly failed."
