Kasich’s win, capturing all of Ohio’s 66 delegates, was crucial to keeping alive the hopes of mainstream Republicans trying to stop Trump. Since then, several more states voted, with Clinton and Trump continuing to lead.
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“Our commander-in-chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it”, Clinton said in a speech that largely ignored Sanders. That’s not good enough – it takes a majority of delegates to win the nomination, according to party rules.
The Republican result was delayed in Missouri where Mr Trump was neck and neck with Mr Cruz.
Tuesday night’s primary races in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri and OH are expected to most consequential yet of the primary calendar and determine whether the race for the White House is going to be a long slog for both parties. But he lost another key state, Ohio, to Kasich, the state’s governor.
Ted Cruz has 396 delegates – but could reach 407 – Kasich has 138 and Rubio left the race with 168.
Trump was locked in a close battle in the primary in the state of Missouri with Cruz, who also said this is the time for Republicans to unite.
Rubio made a decision to suspend his campaign after losing in his home state of Florida.
Trump cited a hypothetical scenario where he’d go to the Cleveland convention in July with roughly 1,000 delegates and a rival would show up there with 500.
While there is no winner-take-all ruling on the side of the Democrats, Mrs Clinton’s campaign is gaining even more momentum as the primaries move on to states such as Utah and Arizona on March 22.
Describing “Rubio’s demise” as “the last gasp of the Republican reboot”, the Washington Post said “Years of carefully laid plans to repackage the Republican Party’s traditional ideas for a fast-changing country came crashing down” with him quitting the race. “They see things here that they’ve never ever seen in the Republican Party”.
If Sanders can win another big state after his MI upset last week, that gives him a huge boost, fueling his argument that he’s still in the fight against Clinton.
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“People say, ‘What about the contested convention?'” Ryan said in an interview with CNBC. But if he continues to win at that same clip, he’d fall more than 100 delegates short of the 1,237 needed. After all, most Rubio supporters listed Cruz or Kasich as second choices. Yes, almost a third of Hillary’s total are superdelegates, who could, theoretically, change their mind-but given her massive lead and their general front-loving nature, it’s hard to imagine them finding a reason to switch teams now. Sanders has at least 800.
