In the Democratic race, Clinton’s victories in Florida and North Carolina were expected, but Sanders, a Vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist, had hopes of taking the industrial state of Ohio.
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The 44-year-old first-term senator had been considered by many mainstream Republicans to be the last best option to defeat billionaire businessman Trump and US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for the party’s nomination for the November 8 election.
Underscoring Republican concerns about Trump, Rubio focused heavily on an implicit critique of Trump in a speech announcing he was dropping out of the race. “But after tonight, it’s clear that while we are on the right side this year, we will not be on the winning side”.
Trump had enjoyed double-digit leads in several polls in the run-up to Tuesday’s contest. Rubio spoke over boos from the audience as he congratulated Trump. He meant the tide of frustration that had thrust Trump into the lead for the Republican Party’s nomination.
For Republicans, it’s the first state to award all its delegates to the primary victor and not proportionally, meaning Trump will take all 99 delegates.
Mr Trump has alienated many Republicans and Democrats with his disparaging remarks about Mexicans, Muslims and women, among others. Clinton has a significant delegate lead over Sanders, who has turned in stronger showings in the Midwest and other Western states.
If no candidate for the nomination can earn a majority of delegates in the party’s votes and caucuses, then Republican delegates will battle through however many rounds of voting are needed to come to a consensus on a nominee. And in a crucial victory, she stopped Bernie Sanders in his tracks in the industrial Midwest by taking Ohio.
Trump’s Florida win knocked Rubio out of the primary campaign, boiling the once-overflowing pack of GOP contenders down to three.
Cruz praised Rubio’s campaign in a speech given in Houston Tuesday night and appealed to Rubio’s supporters, but vowed not to give up his pursuit of the GOP presidential nomination.
The former secretary of State is also projected to win OH, a state that Sanders hoped might deliver him an upset victory.
Republican Marco Rubio, the USA senator from Florida, dropped out of the race for the White House on Tuesday, March 15, after suffering a bruising loss to frontrunner Donald Trump in his home state. But he just might win enough to make it a contest in Cleveland. Both state parties allocate their delegates proportionally, either based on results by congressional districts or statewide.
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“Ohio is always the center of the political universe”, Borges said in a statement.
