Tuesday’s primary election put an end to Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential ambitions — at least for 2016. While the Florida senator had hoped to prove that polls showing Donald Trump leading the Sunshine State by 20 points were wrong, he couldn’t argue with the results. Trump has won three more — in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina — and John Kasich won his home state of Ohio. Meanwhile, Trump and Cruz are tied statistically in Missouri, which is still too close to call. The 2016 race is down to three candidates, but Trump and Cruz are ready for a one-on-one battle. Their teams are determined to block Kasich from participating in the contentious convention in July. As for those debates, they may be over for good. After Trump and Kasich announced they would not be taking part in Monday’s podium clash Fox Newsthe network canceled the event.
Republican primaries
Donald Trump: Trump won the endorsement of Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday. With three more state victories and dozens of delegates won Tuesday, the businessman has the clearest path to the Republican nomination. Although he has won 47 percent of the delegates awarded so far, Hill notes that he would need to win more than 60 percent of the remaining delegates’ votes to secure the nomination. If the contest were to take place at the convention and his name was not called, Trump predicted riot will explode.
Ted Cruz: During his post-primary speech Tuesday night, Cruz said Hillary Clinton was “tossing and turning,” as he witnessed the passion among Republican voters. The Texas senator said Kasich has no credible path to the nomination and is ready to face Trump. Cruz, meanwhile, criticized President Obama’s supposedly “moderate” Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, and urged us to wait until November to let the people decide who to put on the bench.
Jan Kasich:From the amount of confetti at Kasich’s victory rally in Ohio on Tuesday night, you might have thought he had won the general election. Indeed, many Republicans celebrated the governor’s victory in an essential swing state, knowing that if Trump won the winner-take-all state, he would be unstoppable. As noted above, Trump and Cruz want him to step down.
Democratic primaries
Although experts wondered whether Bernie Sanders could spring another surprise, like in Michigan, Hillary Clinton won four of the five Democratic primary elections Tuesday. Sanders, however, managed a virtual tie with Clinton in Missouri.
Delegate Count (R)
Trump-661
Cruz-406
Kasich-142
Delegate Count (D)
Clinton-1,599
Sanders-844
Basic schedule
Tuesday, March 22 – American Samoa (R Convention), Arizona, Idaho Caucus (D), Utah
