Hello Kasich, Goodbye Rubio

For the third consecutive week, this past Tuesday night saw several Republican and Democratic primaries being held across the country. From North Carolina to Florida to Ohio, candidates both sides were fighting to bring home the needed delegates to earn the nomination.

Yet again, Clinton beat Sanders in the South, finalizing her dominance over that region with her win of North Carolina. Additionally, she won by a large margin in both Florida and Ohio, receiving 64% and 57% respectively.

Although Bernie Sanders did not win any state this time around, he came notably close in Illinois, winning 49% of the votes, receiving only one delegate less than Clinton. He came even closer in Missouri, this time receiving the same number of delegates as Clinton, and only .2% less of the votes, leaving him with a total of  851 delegates and Clinton with a total of 1,606 delegates.

Donald Trump also continued his sweep of the Deep South, winning a landslide victory in Florida. Marco Rubio, a Florida Senator, had been hanging in the race until he had the chance to run in his home state. Unfortunately for Rubio, he’d waited in vain; despite his affiliation with Florida, he lost to Trump 27% to 46%.

Following his loss, Rubio gave a speech that brushed upon the issue of extreme thinking due to anger and frustration with the situation of immigration. In a heartfelt recount of his personal experience as the son of an immigrant, he conceded that he understood why there was anger and frustration. However, he argued that we must address these problems with rationality. Shortly after this he informed the audience that he was suspending his campaign. To the jeers of the audience, he responded by emphasizing the importance of Judeo-Christian principles in American politics, claiming “if we lose that about our country, we’ll still be rich, and we’ll still be powerful, but we will no longer be special.” In his parting words he thanked the audience, and the American people, for the opportunity he had been given thus far, saying, “may God always bless and strengthen this nation of the United States of America.”

About an hour later, John Kasich had better fortune in his home state, Ohio, resolutely beating Trump. He finished off with 47% of the vote, successfully gaining all the delegates Ohio had to offer. The victory in his home state has encouraged him to stay in the race and perhaps win over many of the moderate western states.

However, besides Ohio, Trump won every other state. Besides Florida, he won Illinois by 39%, North Carolina by 40%, and Missouri by 40.8%, coming in a close second with Senator Ted Cruz, who received 40.6%. This puts Trump in an approximately 275 delegate lead in the race, placing him with an overall delegate count of around 691. Cruz, the second runner up, has merely 412.

With Rubio gone, the question remains; who will receive his 163 delegates? If he gives them to Cruz, he may still have a chance yet to catch up to Trump.