If you’ve been following the Republican side of the presidential elections, you know who the two front runners are: Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Currently, they are both trying to get the Republican nomination; however, this might be harder for them than previously anticipated. The reason for this increase in difficulty comes about if there is a contested convention for the GOP.

Now you might be wondering, what exactly is a contested convention? Well, a contested convention occurs when multiple candidates from the same party don’t have enough delegates to secure a nomination. At this point, delegates, no matter what allegiance they had before, re-vote in an attempt to find a clear majority. Once one is found, that person will get the nominee. However, you must also keep in mind that the person the delegates vote for doesn’t need to be someone you competed with in the primaries.

Now that we know what a contested convention is, how does it affect this election cycle? Well, a contested convention is what most GOP Republicans are hoping for so that they can put a stop to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Over the past few weeks, it has become kind of obvious that a good deal of GOP Republicans don’t like Trump or Cruz. They dislike Cruz for the fact that he has more radical ideas than more conservative Republicans, and they don’t like Trump for just being a total PR nightmare. With these two being the frontrunners, GOP Republicans are hoping for a contested convention so they can bring in an outside nominee.

So, who are some of the people that Republicans are hoping for if there is a contested convention? Well for starters, there’s Scott Walker and Marco Rubio. Both of them have been knocked out of the race, but some Republicans think they could make a comeback at a contested convention. Scott Walker still has a solid conservative base that could support him in the general election, and Marco Rubio was seen as having a better chance during the general election when he was still in the race. There is also Paul Ryan, who would be the Republican’s fantasy nominee. He has been avidly opposing all things Trump and also is well known to the public as he is Speaker of the House. However, it seems that Republicans won’t be getting him. On April 4, Ryan said in an interview that he has no desire to be the Republican nominee, and insisted that the nominee should be someone who has run in the primaries.

 Well, as the Republican convention grows ever closer, it is still unclear if there will be a contested convention. If there is, it might be the only thing that will stop future Emperor Trump from getting the nomination.