U.S. Rep. Steve King — who inserted himself into the Iowa Caucus by endorsing Ted Cruz — thinks Cruz has the best shot to win a contested convention and that John Kasich should drop out of the GOP race for president.

On the Republican side, a candidate needs to win at least 1,237 delegates during the presidential nominating contests to win the nomination outright, or the nominee will be chosen at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

“As each one of these contests go by and as the polling shows within these states that have yet to [vote], it’s more and more likely this will be a contested convention,” King said Saturday in a phone interview with the Iowa State Daily. “It’s almost to the point where the ‘conventional wisdom’ is ready to announce that it will be a contested convention.”

Even if Trump has the most delegates going into the convention, if 1,237 delegates don’t vote for Trump, the delegates are then free to vote for whomever they choose during a second ballot.

“If there is a second ballot, I think Cruz is the odds-on favorite,” King said. “Cruz is much better organized then Trump is; he has the support among the delegates who emerge because they are real constitutional conservatives.”

King did make a point to say that if Trump wins the nomination outright on the first ballot, the Republican Party should rally around his nomination through the November general election.

“We should play by the rules that we agreed to play by,” King said. “If Trump falls short in that first round of ballots, everybody needs to understand: all bets are off, the delegates are released to vote their preference.”

Kasich should drop out

King also addressed the third candidate in the GOP race: Ohio Gov. John Kasich, saying he should drop out of the race because of the way he is affecting voting moving forward.

“I’ve always thought that’s a very personal decision,” King said. “You have so much invested in it, but with Kasich, however, it’s a different scenario. It sure looks to me like there is zero path for Kasich. It would be a miracle for him to win the nomination, but he could broker a convention.”

King also said it seems that Kasich is positioning himself a spot in a Trump administration, so he should be transparent on his plans for the future.

“He’s keeping Cruz from taking Trump on head to head,” King said. “He’s making it more likely that Trump will win the nomination, so I think he should come out and be honest, just like [Ben] Carson was [about getting an administration job].”