Donald TrumpDonald TrumpTrump crushes Rubio in Florida, wins Illinois, North Carolina Trump wins North Carolina Trump wins in Illinois MORE crushed Marco RubioMarco RubioTrump crushes Rubio in Florida, wins Illinois, North Carolina Trump wins North Carolina Clinton closes in on Dem crown MORE in Florida, easily winning the Sunshine State’s and its 99 delegates.
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It was part of another big night for Trump, who also earned victories in IL and North Carolina.
Votes were also being counted Tuesday in Missouri and IL, though races in both parties were too close to call. “If Marco Rubio doesn’t win his state, he has to suspend his campaign”.
“He will fix everything that is wrong with the economy and immigration”, said Alex Perri, a 59-year-old retired firefighter from Margate, Florida, who was campaigning for Trump in the parking lot of an Oakland Park voting place.
“I think he helped us bring people out, people who are supporting the other candidates”, Kabel said.
He predicted a large turnout: “We believe… that they’re coming out to draw a line in the sand against Donald Trump”.
The New York real estate mogul is the favourite to win his party’s nomination but has run into fierce opposition from within the Republican establishment, as well as facing condemnation from the Democrats.
A favorite of Republican leaders, Rubio is the latest candidate to fall victim to an unpredictable election cycle and Trump’s unmatched ability to tap into the public’s anger with Washington and frustration with sweeping economic changes. The governor is the preferred pick of 39% of likely primary voters, followed by businessman Donald Trump at 33% and Texas Sen. It takes 1237 to win the Republican nomination.
Tuesday may be the most important day in the 2016 election, more so than the Iowa caucus that kicked it off and even more than Super Tuesday, the first major slate of voting.
In the Democratic race, Clinton is likely to widen her delegate lead over Sanders, a Vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist. Ted Cruz, is hoping to pick up enough delegates to force a contested national GOP convention in July. Now all eyes are on whether he can outperform polling once again, particularly in states that are near MI, like OH and IL, and have similar levels of white, pro-union, working-class voters who have been receptive to Mr Sanders’s economic populism and anti-trade-deal rhetoric.
Trump has 43% support in Florida, well ahead of Rubio, who draws 22%. With a win in Ohio, Kasich can complicate the front-runner’s ability to collect the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the nomination.
A person familiar with the planning confirmed the meeting on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the gathering by name.
Rubio said: “I’m very concerned about that”.
Entering Tuesday, Clinton had 768 pledged delegates compared to 554 for Sanders, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.
Rubio went into Tuesday’s race with only 163 delegates to his credit.
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For the Democrats, Florida, with its 214 delegates, is similarly a huge prize, though the party awards its delegates on a proportional basis, meaning that Senator Bernie Sanders will add something to his total from there.
