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By Miriam Raftery
March 16, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – The field has narrowed further after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and businessman/reality TV celebrity Donald Trump scored sweeping wins in the “Super Tuesday” primaries held yesterday in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina.
Clinton secured solid wins in all of the states, though the matchup was close in Missouri and Illinois. Her wins mark a major setback for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who must now secure wins by large margins in the remaining big states including California to have any chance of winning the Democratic nomination. Sanders did pick up delegates though, since Democratic primaries are not winner take all.
On the Republican side, Trump won everywhere but Ohio, where Governor John Kasich picked up his first primary victory in his home state. Florida Senator Marco Rubio announced his withdrawal from the race after failing to win his home state of Florida. The night was also disappointing for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who didn’t place first in any state, but did pick up substantial delegates.
The road to the Republican nomination remains rocky. Trump strengthened his position and now has a clear shot at gaining the most popular votes and a majority of delegates, which ordinarily would secure the party’s nomination.
But party insiders are jockeying for ways to bar Trump from being the nominee, some fearing his inflammatory rhetoric and hate speech will negatively reflect on the GOP, others fearing Trump won’t take a hard-line position on social issues or other core Republican principals.
The possibility of a brokered convention at which neither Trump nor Cruz emerges as the nominee remains. House Speaker Paul Ryan and former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney are among the names being floated by party insiders, CNBC reports.
In an interview with CNN, Trump said that his supporters would be outraged if he does not automatically get the nomination as the candidate with the most delegates, adding, “I think you would have riots.”
View the latest delegate counts, per the New York Times, here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/primary-calendar-and-results.html?_r=0
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