Though the race has six candidates, it’s honestly down to three: Donald Trump, and Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
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Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush and the younger brother of former President George W. Bush, was considered to be the GOP candidate to beat early in the race.
“Jeb Bush’s decision to drop out of the presidential race drew supportive reaction Saturday night from one Collier County supporter and local Republican Party leaders”. Voters picked who they want to represent their parties in November in the Nevada Democratic Caucuses and South Carolina Republican Primary.
The end was all the more personal because the former Florida governor had poured his energy into the state, invoking his family’s political legacy at one campaign stop after another and facing down voters who questioned his campaign strategy. The Texas senator’s organization and evangelical support made him a sleeper pick to challenge Trump atop the polls on election day, but instead he was surpassed by a late-surging Rubio. “I’m proud of being a Bush”, he told a crowd in Derry.
But entrance polling in Nevada showed he badly lost among black voters, by 76 per cent to 22 per cent, a bad omen for SC and other southern states with big black populations.
His supporters erupted in a roar when CNN called the contest in his favour – his second win of the nominations race after New Hampshire and an important test of the strength of his bid to succeed President Barack Obama.
With Jeb Bush dropping out, it’s a scenario that could unfold – it is a glimmer of hope, but that’s all mainstream Republicans have at this point. “In this campaign, I have stood my ground”.
The spotligh was not only on Trump though, observers were also careful to watch Cruz and Rubio, who were neck and neck for second place.
It was Mr Trump’s second victory in a row, after New Hampshire on February 9, an outcome that frightens establishment Republicans but thrills the “throw-the-bums-out” conservative base of the party that has always been fed up with Washington.
“I just don’t see a third Bush presidency”, Julie Michau of Beaufort, South Carolina, said Wednesday after attending a Bush event.
The candidates are now headed to Nevada, where caucuses will be held next Saturday.
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“The people of Iowa and New Hampshire and SC have spoken”, the former Florida governor told a modest group of supporters, many of them from Miami and Tallahassee, gathered at a downtown Columbia Hilton hotel.
