Update: Jeb Bush has now chose to suspend his presidential campaign.
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And his take on the prospects of a President Donald Trump?
“It’s tough, it’s nasty, it’s mean, it’s vicious, it’s handsome”, Trump said, before pausing.
He declared his candidacy for president on June 15, 2015, telling a crowd at Miami Dade College, “I am certain that we can make the decades just ahead in America the greatest time ever to be alive in this world”.
The Associated Press projected Trump the victor of the primary within about a half hour of polls closing. Ted Cruz. A second-place finish between the senators will help give them a leg up in the upcoming contests, although a third-place finish won‘t knock either of them out, either.
Cruz and Rubio, meanwhile, sharpened their battle to be the alternative to Trump, who faces heavy opposition from many traditional Republicans.
The campaign suffered a major blow earlier in the week as South Carolina’s popular governor endorsed rival Marco Rubio over the former Florida governor – a move Bush called “disappointing” – resulting in what seemed the final downward trajectory of his run. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
Both candidates were staying confident.
Speaking at a victory rally, Trump was exultant, saying, “When you win, it’s handsome”.
About three-quarters of Republican primary voters support a temporary ban on Muslims who are not US citizens from entering the United States. While Clinton’s campaign once saw the Western battleground as an opportunity to start pulling away from Sanders, her team is nervously anticipating a close contest with the Vermont senator.
The GOP race heads next to Nevada and after that to Super Tuesday, representing a delegate gold mine.
But entrance polling in Nevada showed he badly lost among black voters, by 76 percent to 22 percent, a bad omen for SC and other southern states with big black populations. As the victor, Trump would get the lion’s share. Since 1980, only one candidate has not won the Republican nomination for president without first winning in SC.
The state has a reputation as well for bringing out bare-knuckle campaign tactics, and this year was no exception. But the former governor had a rough last week leading up to the primary.
But his campaign was dogged in the summer by Trump’s criticism that he is a “low-energy” candidate, and his numbers never climbed.
The networks all determined the GOP race was too close to call as the polls closed. All will struggle to reach double digits, according to the exit polls. Cruz, though, had the edge among voters who said their top issue is terrorism. But with three nominating contests in the books, Trump has been the most dominant candidate in the field by far.
The presidency, Bush said, “is bigger than any one person. While others were making their last stand in South Carolina, John Kasich strengthened his organization and support – despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars”. He is looking toward more moderate states that vote later in March.
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A Donald Trump victory could foreshadow strong showings in Southern states that vote on March 1 ” when he could pile up the delegates that determine the nominee.
