Curly Haugland

Erling George Haugland, known as Curly Haugland, is an American politician and businessman. He has served as the Republican National Committeeman for North Dakota since 1999. Haugland was elected chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party in 1999; he served one term and has since been elected to three four-year terms as committeeman. He previously served as an advisory board member for the Bank of North Dakota (1993–2000) and as Commissioner of the Northern Great Plains Rural Development Commission (1994–1996). Haugland argued that the committee's rules barred Martinez from serving as chairman because he was not one of its 168 members. Haugland explained: "The media has created the perception that the voters will decide the nomination...Political parties choose their nominee, not the general public, contrary to popular belief."

In an April 2016 interview on NPR, Haugland said primary votes were irrelevant to a party's nomination process since the nomination for president is dependent solely on a simple majority of the vote of the permanently seated delegates to the national convention.

In May 2016 Politico described Haugland as "the mainstream GOP’s last hope to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination in Cleveland."

In June 2016 Haugland and Sean Parnell co-authored a book, Unbound: The Conscience of a Republican Delegate. The book, published by Delegates Unbound, argues that "delegates are not bound to vote for any particular candidate based on primary and caucus results, state party rules, or even state law."