Weaver said he’s expecting two candidates to drop out over the next week – including Jeb Bush.
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“I’m proud of the campaign we have run”, Bush said a few minutes into his speech. Most of the Bush family – including his brother, former President George W. Bush, and mother, Barbara Bush – joined him on the campaign trail in the days leading up to the primary. Rubio and Bush were both largely considered mainstream conservatives, but Trump argued that he would continue to earn support as candidates leave the race. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, by 2 percent according official results. “The people of Iowa and New Hampshire and SC have spoken and I really respect their decision, so tonight I am suspending my campaign”, he said in his brief remarks tonight. And exit polls by CNN said 53 percent of South Carolina Republican voters feel betrayed by their party, while 44 percent do not.
Republican senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are now locked in a battle for second place in the state.
Trump congratulated Cruz and Rubio for the their finishes, but expressed surprised at television pundits who predicted the second and third place finishers would pick up voters as candidates drop out of the race.
Rubio took the stage as elections results showed him effectively tied for second place with Sen. It was clear that Bush, the son of a president and brother of another, would face an uphill battle.
More votes are needed in individual congressional districts to award the final 12 delegates. Trump carried those voters with 31 percent of the vote, while Cruz won 27 percent and Rubio got a 22 percent share.
Trump’s win Saturday could answer some of those questions, adding momentum going into the collection of Southern states that will vote March 1. But Cruz’s camp says they expect Cruz to come out strong.
In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton beat Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in a tight race in Nevada. It’s tough, it’s nasty.
The former secretary of state has now put a disheartening defeat in New Hampshire behind her. A loss in Nevada could have sent her campaign reeling.
The summer of Trump turned into the fall and winter of Trump, and Bush gradually found himself as the candidate most willing to take on the real estate titan, whose brash and sometimes locker-room language irritated Bush so much that the former governor started calling Trump a “loser” and a “jerk”. “There’s nothing easy about running for president”, Trump said at his victory rally in Spartanburg on Saturday evening.
” I am so, so thrilled and so grateful to all of my supporters out there”.
Mrs Clinton, who won Iowa but was beaten convincingly in New Hampshire by Mr Sanders, has already declared victory in a tweet, thanking people who voted for her, saying “this is your win”.
Trump is the favorite to win the Nevada caucuses next week, with the RealClearPolitics average showing he’s up by more than 20 points right now. “Some may have doubted us but we never doubted each other”, said Clinton at her victory speech in Las Vegas.
“When I began this journey in Miami I committed that I would campaign as I would serve, going everywhere, speaking to everyone, keeping my word, facing the issues without flinching and staying true to what I believe”, he said in summing up his campaign.
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His performance could unnerve the Republican establishment, since SC has been a reliable barometer of conservative opinion after siding with the eventual nominee in every GOP presidential race since 1980, apart from in 2012.
