At the state party’s convention in Burlingame over the weekend, where Ohio Gov. John Kasich suggested – before backing off – that he could “expand the field” in California, Trump did not include the state in a list of Democratic-leaning regions in which he said he could compete. He called Cruz “one hell of a competitor”, calling his decision to drop out of the race “brave”.
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“I didn’t know I had it in the grasp – I mean, I didn’t know I was going to win by such a big margin, and I won by a massive margin, and the people of in, I’m so thankful to them”, Trump said. “We’re not going to let companies leave”, Trump said after winning the Indiana Primary which propelled him to the position of being a presumptive nominee.
“We looked at the numbers and said, ‘Hell, we’ve got an opportunity here”, said Madrid, who worked on the 2000 campaign. Hillary Clinton is expected to be his Democratic opponent, though her march to the nomination was slowed by rival Bernie Sanders’ victory over her in Indiana.
A senior campaign adviser reportedly told NBC News that Kasich will suspend his presidential campaign during the Columbus, Ohio announcement.
Seen as a tested alternative to other establishment-friendly candidates like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus declared the GOP race over, saying on Twitter that Trump would be the party’s presumptive nominee. Bernie Sanders also won, with 52 percent of the vote to Hillary Clinton’s 47 percent – but he only saw a net gain of less than a dozen delegates.
With 1,002 delegates to his name, Trump was already in favorable position to reach the magic number needed to avoid a contested party convention. But he was sure of one thing: “I will not vote for Trump”.
Only about half of Indiana’s Republican primary voters said they were excited or optimistic about any of their remaining candidates becoming president, according to exit polling conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.
Via Politicos, here are 5 take-aways from the turn in events Tuesday night.
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Speaking to CNN about taking on Mr. Trump, Mrs. Clinton said he was a “loose cannon” who had ran a “negative, bullying” campaign. It’s mathematically impossible for Sanders to secure the nomination with pledged delegates and Clinton has a 520 to 39 edge in super delegates.
