But given his big loss and a frank analysis of the numbers, Mr Cruz pulled out of the race, leaving it all to Mr Trump, who now will go on to be the party’s nominee for president and run against, presumably, Mrs Clinton, in the Nov 8 election.
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During his victory speech, Mr Trump called Mr Cruz “one hell of a competitor”.
“We’re gonna win in November”, Trump said.
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.
“Donald Trump will be presumptive @GOP nominee, we all need to unite and focus on defeating @HillaryClinton”, Priebus said, in an extraordinary move to embrace a candidate the party establishment fought tooth and nail to stop. But Trump rode momentum from wins in five Northeastern states a week ago to wrest in from Cruz, whose brand of Christian conservatism had been expected to have wide appeal in the state.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus declared the GOP race over, saying on Twitter that Trump would be the party’s presumptive nominee.
For rival Ted Cruz who had hoped IN would be a Trump firewall, breaking the billionaire’s momentum, the night was a disaster forcing him to end his campaign.
Not surprisingly, Cruz took offense to the former Apprentice star’s comment about Heidi and called for his opponent to leave her alone. “They’re wrong”, he said. “For too many Americans, the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump feels like a choice between being shot in the head, and being shot in the head, with perhaps the only “third way” being a vote for the Libertarian Party candidate or a write-in, just to ease the conscience”.
Following weeks of rising tension between the Trump and Cruz camps, the NY business magnate softened his tone on the conservative Texas senator.
Trump secured his path to the GOP nomination by taking 53.3 percent of the vote in the Indiana Republican primary, compared to 36.7 percent for Cruz, and 7.5 percent for Gov. John Kasich of OH, according to The Associated Press.
Even before the IN results, Trump and Clinton had pivoted toward one another. Cruz sealed a victory in the Republican Iowa caucuses, winning on the strength of his relentless campaigning and support from his party’s diehard conservatives.
The real estate mogul says in a broadcast interview Wednesday that he’s “inclined” to prefer a No. 2 person on the ticket “who can help me get legislation passed”. “I’m not going to tell him to get out or stay in”.
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Rob Stutzman, a political consultant working on an anti-Trump campaign in California, said the effort will proceed despite Cruz’s departure. In response, Cruz blasted Trump as a “pathological liar, “utterly amoral” and a “narcissist”.
