In the Democratic race, Clinton is likely to widen her delegate lead over Sanders, a Vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist.
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On Tuesday night, such caution and calm appeared to have paid off as John Kasich halted Donald Trump in his desire to secure a clean sweep in the five primaries when he won his home state of Ohio.
Although much of the focus on the Republican side has been on primaries in OH and Florida – and rightly so, since those contests award all of their delegates to the victor – there are still three other important races today between Trump and his main competitor, Texas Sen.
Polls show the two candidates are neck-and-neck.
Donald Trump dealt a fatal blow to Marco Rubio, defeating the state’s sitting senator in the Florida primary who suspended his campaign shortly after.
Trump enters the evening with about 40 per cent of the delegates awarded so far; if the polls are correct, he’ll win enough states tonight to push that into the mid-40s.
Florida is a winner-take-all state, and the Republican victor will receive 99 delegates.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is projected to defeat Bernie Sanders in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida, according to the AP.
For the Democrats, opinion polls gave Clinton a big lead in Florida and North Carolina, but showed Sanders gaining ground in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, a possibly worrisome sign for Clinton after his surprise victory in MI a week ago. Cathy Lewis said she likes that Kasich is “presenting the truth” about Donald Trump. “He has a right to run his campaign in any way that he chooses, and I’m proud of the campaign we’ve run”, Clinton said. But a loss in OH, another state they hoped to challenge Clinton in, dimmed some of that hope early on Tuesday.
Rubio, a favorite of Republican leaders, is the latest candidate to fall victim to an unpredictable election cycle and Trump’s unmatched ability to tap into the public’s anger with Washington and frustration with sweeping economic changes.
Even before Florida’s results were final, Rubio’s team was preemptively saying the candidate’s struggle was due in part to an optimistic message that did not match the angry and fearful mood of the electorate. Rubio and Kasich have suggested they might not be able to support Trump if he’s the nominee, an extraordinary stance for intraparty rivals.
“Sometimes the reporting of polls, some might say, well, my candidate is doing so well, I don’t need to come out”, Clinton said. Texas Senator Ted Cruz was closely following Trump.
“I took the opportunity to recommend to him that no matter who may be triggering these violent expressions or conflicts that we have been seeing at some of these rallies, it might be a good idea to condemn that and discourage it no matter what the source of it is”, McConnell said.
Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina were also voting. In telling campaign optics, Clinton staged Tuesday’s primary night rally in West Palm Beach, a few miles from Mar-a-Lago, where Trump was holding a news conference at his Palm Beach estate. Or Ted Cruz could do the same and bolster his case to the rest of the field that he’s earned a one-on-one with Trump. Both the Democratic and Republican candidates have the opportunity to pick up nearly 15 percent of all delegates in the race Tuesday as contenders strive to reach the mark needed for the nomination.
Billionaire Trump won the Republican Presidential Primary in Florida, beating Sen.
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But Cruz’s strong presence in the race, and hopes on Tuesday of picking up substantial numbers of delegates, could continue to help Trump by leaving opposition to him fractured.
