A federal judge on Thursday will hear a lawsuit brought by a Virginia delegate to the Republican National Convention who says Democrat Hillary Clinton will win the White House “in a landslide” if Donald Trump is the GOP nominee.

Carroll “Beau” Correll filed suit last month challenging a state law that requires delegates to vote on the first ballot for the candidate who won Virginia’s primary. He contends that the law conflicts with Republican National Committee rules and violates his right to vote his conscience.

A defense attorney and former prosecutor from Winchester, Va., Correll was co-chair of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District and is part of a sputtering movement to keep Trump from winning the presidency.

“Donald Trump has shown through his words and his actions that he is eminently unqualified for office,” Correll said in a phone interview. He said he was particularly offended by Trump’s apparent advocacy for torture and his penchant for revising his views.

“Not only is he unqualified, but he has no core,” he said.

Eight Virginia Republican delegates and Trump supporters who disagree with Correll have filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. The group includes John Fredericks, a conservative radio show host from Chesapeake, Va., who said Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., will appear on his show Thursday hours before the hearing. Fredericks called the lawsuit “disruptive and dumb.”

“It’s a publicity stunt to bring attention to the dwindling #NeverTrump movement that has basically turned out to be a handful of people,” he said.

Others in the party are opposing Correll, too.

Howie Lind, an alternate delegate from McLean, is trying to get Correll removed as a delegate, citing a TV report said Correll supports a third-party candidate.

Lind, a Trump supporter, called the lawsuit “subversive to the party.”

But Correll said he’s simply opposed to a state law that he believes criminalizes political speech. He takes issue with a provision that says “delegates and alternates shall be bound to vote on the first ballot at the national convention for the candidate receiving the most votes in the primary.”

By his reading, that means all of Virginia’s 49 delegates must vote for Trump, who won about 35 percent of the vote in the March 1 primary, followed closely by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 32 percent and Cruz at 17 percent.

“Donald Trump will lose in a landslide to Hillary Clinton,” he said. “He’s outraised 4 to 1. He’s got a skeleton staff. He doesn’t even have good data.”

If Correll lobbies his fellow delegates to vote against Trump, he said, he worries he could be prosecuted for breaking state law.

He prefers Republican National Committee rules, which currently require Virginia to allocate delegates proportionally based on the March 1 primary results. That would give 17 delegates to Trump, 16 to Rubio, eight to Cruz, five to Ohio Gov. John Kasich and three to retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

All that could change at the national convention in Cleveland, when party officials consider proposed rule changes.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post · Jenna Portnoy