GOP leaders are quietly asking the party's 2016 presidential candidates to sign a pledge that they will not run for president if they do not secure the nomination, according to multiple outlets.
It's a move that seems aimed at hemming in the current Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who has so far refused to promise that he won't run as an independent candidate -- thereby splitting the GOP vote -- if he doesn't win the nomination.
The pledge being passed out to the candidates reads:
I, ______________, affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee, regardless of who it is.
I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek to accept the nomination for president of any other party.
The pledge hearkens back to the very first question posed to the 10 upper-tier candidates at the Fox News debate in August in which moderators asked the candidates if they were willing to forgo an independent campaign if they did not win the nomination. Trump was the only one to say he wanted to keep his options open.
The party's South Carolina branch requires candidates to sign just such a pledge, but a former leader recently said the pledge has little legal ground to stand on.
Mashable has reached out to the RNC and to the Trump campaign for comment.