The state of Louisiana is stealing headlines — and delegates away from Donald Trump. Well, at least he thinks so.

On March 5, Donald Trump won the Louisiana Republican primary with 41.4 percent of the vote, while Sen. Ted Cruz notched second place with 37.8 percent. Both men walked away with 18 delegates each, and third place finisher Sen. Marco Rubio walked away with five. Now that Rubio’s campaign has been suspended, those delegates are up for grabs and can throw their support to whichever candidate they please.

What’s more, there are an additional five Louisiana delegates that are unbound — meaning they can support whomever they like. These five unbound delegates, plus Rubio’s five delegates, means there are a total of 10 still up for grabs.

Enter the toughness of Cruz’s national grassroots operation. Throughout the 2016 election cycle, Trump has relied on dominance of the conversation in media, and his unique appeal, putting a traditional ground game on the back burner. But Cruz has put a heavy emphasis on the nuts and bolts of an on-the-ground organization.

With the decision over whether the GOP battle will go to a contested convention looking razor thin, the ground game will be more important than ever. Whoever has the best organization to round up delegates could well determine whether the convention is contested or not, and could be the candidate who will claim victory.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Cruz appears to have swept the 10 additional Louisiana delegates because his campaign out-organized Trump on the delegate selection process.

The Journal also reported that at Louisiana’s Republican convention, GOP party members needed to fill six slots to represent the state on various committees at the Republican National Convention — five of which were won by Cruz supporters. The committees that the six delegates were selected for were the rules, credentials and party platform — three key committees when it comes to building the framework for how the GOP nominee will be selected and the message that nominee will carry into the general election.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIxSfrBuWJk”]

Cruz’s campaign is proving that if the race were to boil down to a contested convention, the will of the primary voters in some states could be disregarded by the delegates. As the rules stand, a majority of the delegates are bound on the first ballot by the results of their state’s nominating contest. After the first ballot has been cast, a complete free-for-all could happen, as many previously bound delegates become free agents (dependent on the individual rules of their state).

Faced with a slipping delegate majority in Louisiana, Trump has threatened to file a lawsuit against the Republican National Committee over the delegate selection process in the state.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/714198237675003904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”]

At the same time, Trump seems to have accepted that the presidential race may go to a contested convention — and that the Establishment won’t let Trump secure the nomination without a fight. The GOP front-runner hired a veteran GOP consultant Tuesday to serve as his campaign convention manager.

Trump’s newest hire, Paul J. Manafort, is a veteran of the last GOP contested convention between President Gerald Ford and then-Governor Ronald Reagan. Manafort will take the helm of Trump’s convention operation and delegate corralling.

As Trump looks to nab the magic 1,237 delegates to stave off a contested convention, the GOP front-runner is looking to dull the Cruz advantage on the ground.