As Trump grew his delegate lead on Tuesday night, the so-called #NeverTrump movement (Republicans who are pledging never to unite behind the controversial candidate) could pick up some steam, too, especially after Rubio’s withdrawal.
Advertisement
Democrat Hillary Clinton, eager for a November matchup against Trump, took direct aim at him after strengthening her position against rival Bernie Sanders with another batch of primary victories.
John Kasich’s victory in OH deprives Trump of 66 delegates in that winner-take-all state, making it that much more challenging for the front-runner to find that many delegates elsewhere at one time.
Projections by United States media showed him just behind Trump in Missouri, and in second place in IL and North Carolina. He tells NBC’s “Today” that winning OH makes the case that neither Trump nor Texas Sen.
The possibility of a Ryan nomination at a contested Republican Party convention started when he said in a CNBC interview, “There are a lot of people running for president”.
Trump was already looking forward to the general election on Tuesday night as he urged party unity amid growing speculation about the potential of a convention fight.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were successful on “mini Super Tuesday”. “Our commander-in-chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it”, she declared.
Matt Rourke/AP John Kasich has vowed to stay in the race until the July convention if he wins in Ohio.
“I think we’ve had enough, how many times can the same people ask you the same questions?” Rubio and Carson’s departures freed up almost a third of the electorate (29 percent), but instead of moving en masse to one single candidate, those voters appear to have splintered among their three remaining options: Cruz gained 11 points, Kasich 9 points, and Trump 7 points.
The wins for former Secretary of State Clinton 68 added to her lead in pledged delegates over Senator Sanders 74 of Vermont and gave her an nearly insurmountable edge burying the memory of her stunning loss in MI last week.
Patricia Johnson, a 67-year-old retired Kansas City teacher, praised Clinton’s foreign policy experience while contrasting her with the Republican front-runner.
Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Vice President Joe Biden, for instance, is preparing to campaign in the Rust Belt, a region that includes the upper northeastern states, the Great Lakes and the Midwest.
It now seems virtually impossible for Sanders to overcome her lead. The ad focuses on Trump and not on Sanders, Clinton’s Democratic opponent. “And so if you actually want to defeat Donald Trump, there’s only one campaign that has done so over and over and over again”. This is even after many Republicans disavowed him for spreading violence when his rally was canceled last week in Chicago for safety reasons.
The atmosphere at his events has deepened the concern over his candidacy in some Republican circles. Unlike Florida and Ohio, North Carolina is not a “winner take all” state, and its 72 delegates are proportional.
After another good night for Trump, some Republicans were struggling to come to grips with the prospect of him becoming the nominee and desperate to find long-shot ways to stop him.
Earlier Wednesday, Cruz said party leaders getting behind a brokered convention would be disastrous.
Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., did not rule out the idea of being drafted by the party at the convention. “I think you’d have riots”, Trump said Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day”. “We’ll see. Who knows?”
The exit polls were conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.
Advertisement
Illinois, another proportional state, offered 69 delegates and Trump saw another win. He congratulated Rubio on his campaign but did not mention Kasich or Cruz. Rubio, who left the race, still is ahead of Kasich in the delegate count with 168 delegates compared to 138 for Kasich. Sanders has at least 844.
