Trump’s closest challenger is Cruz, 45, a favorite of the conservative Tea Party, who is second to Trump in delegates but has struggled in states where the electorate is not heavy on the strongly conservative evangelicals who have been Cruz’s biggest base of support. He has seized on Americans’ anger with Washington politicians, attracting voters with his simply worded promise to make America great again. Trump began to take notice, and attacked him as an “absentee” governor who got lucky with his state’s energy boom.
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By capturing Florida, Trump won all 99 of the state’s delegates, giving him a huge lift in his drive to the nomination.
Kasich, meanwhile, finished a distant third in Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina, and came in fourth in Florida, which he all but abandoned as he focused on campaigning in his home state.
And he appeared to take direct aim at the bombastic Trump, adding: “From a political standpoint, the easiest thing to have done in this campaign is to jump on all that anxiety…”
“Nobody is going to have enough delegates”, he said.
Marco Rubio had the hype, the hope and the backing of the GOP establishment, but there was always something missing – voters.
“People say, ‘What about the contested convention?'” Ryan said in an interview with CNBC. While he could benefit from Mr Rubio dropping out, he remains a long shot for the nomination.
Cruz said during a speech in Houston.
Ted Cruz has 396 delegates – but could reach 407 – Kasich has 138 and Rubio left the race with 168.
Also holding races on Tuesday are Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina.
Hillary Clinton now holds a 767-553 leads in delegates over Vermont Sen. Trump might fall short of the majority required, enabling the party establishment to put forward another name at the July convention in Cleveland to formally pick its candidate.
Entering Tuesday, Clinton has 768 pledged delegates compared to 554 for Sanders, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. It takes 2,383 to win the Democratic nomination.
But the Republican delegate count is about to become a national obsession. “Our commander-in-chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it”, she declared.
Mr Trump has alienated many Republicans and Democrats with his disparaging remarks about Mexicans, Muslims and women, among others.
Other social media users quickly followed, creating memes featuring “Little Rubio”, including one showing Trump reading Rubio a book and another referencing the Allen Iverson step over from the first game of the 2001 NBA Finals against the Lakers. The violence that erupted at his rally in Chicago last weekend didn’t stop him from winning the state. And there are 909 delegates still up for grabs in the GOP race.
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In his own speech, Rubio told a crowd of supporters that “it is not God’s plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever”.
