WASHINGTON—Donald Trump scored victories on Tuesday in three states, including the big-prize Florida, but lost Ohio to the state’s governor, John Kasich, as the billionaire continued to move ahead in his stunning campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Hillary Clinton won at least four states, dealing a severe blow to Bernie Sanders’ bid to slow her march toward the Democratic nomination.
Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who staked his once-promising campaign on winning in his home state, dropped out of the presidential race shortly after the polls closed.
That leaves Kasich as the last true establishment candidate running against Trump and archconservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Trump, the brash and controversial reality TV star, has upended Republican politics by winning most of the state-by-state competitions for delegates who will choose the party’s nominee.
He has seized on Americans’ anger with Washington politicians, discomfort with immigration and fears of terrorism, attracting voters with his blunt talk and simply worded promise to make America great again.
Tuesday’s votes in five states had been viewed as a pivotal moment in the Republican presidential campaign. For the first time, two states—Ohio and Florida—had winner-take-all contests.
A Trump sweep could have given him an insurmountable lead in the delegate count.
Biggest prize
Trump won the biggest prize—all 99 Florida delegates—as well as winning North Carolina and Illinois, and was locked in a tight race with Cruz in Missouri.
“This was an amazing night,” he told a victory rally in Florida.
Rubio bowed out, saying: “While it is not God’s plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever, and while today my campaign is suspended, the fact that I’ve even come this far is evidence of how special America truly is.”
Kasich openly called for a contested convention and vowed to campaign on.
“I want to remind you, again tonight, that I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land,” he said.
Kasich’s win, capturing all of Ohio’s 66 delegates, was crucial to keeping alive the hopes of mainstream Republicans trying to stop Trump.
Both the Republican and Democratic primaries in Missouri were too close to call on Wednesday morning.
While Trump has amassed the most delegates, he’s winning just 46 percent of the delegates that have been awarded so far.
If that pace continues, he would fall short of the majority that he would need to assure him the nomination at the Republican Party’s convention in July.
Unpredictable
The result could be a contested convention, creating an unpredictable outcome.
This was the first victory for Kasich, whose upbeat message and long record of government service have had little resonance as his rivals seized on voters’ anxiety and disdain for Washington.
While he could benefit from Rubio dropping out, he remains an extreme long shot for the nomination, though he could help keep Trump below the 50-percent threshold.
Cruz said at a Houston rally that the battle for the Republican presidential nomination was a “two-person race” between himself and Trump. He did not mention Kasich by name.
Trump now has 621 delegates. Cruz has 396 and Kasich 138. Rubio left the race with 168 delegates. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.
Clinton beats Sanders
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 hoped to take the industrial states of Ohio and Illinois, both of which Clinton won.
Sanders is unlikely to overtake Clinton in the delegate count, but his victory last week in Michigan underscored the unease that many Democratic voters have about her candidacy.
With her wins on Tuesday, Clinton put herself in a commanding position to become the first woman in US history to win a major party nomination.
Overall, Clinton has at least 1,561 total delegates including superdelegates, who are elected officials and party leaders free to support the candidate of their choice.
Sanders has at least 800 delegates when the count includes superdelegates. It takes 2,383 to win the Democratic nomination.
In Missouri, the margins between Trump and Cruz and between Clinton and Sanders, were less than one-half of 1 percentage point, meaning the losing candidate can request a recount. The Associated Press did not call either race.
At a victory rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, Clinton pivoted quickly to the November election by assailing Trump’s hard-line immigration positions and support for torture.
“Our commander in chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it,” she declared.
Trump has alienated many Republicans and Democrats alike with his disparaging remarks about Mexicans, Muslims and women, among other people.
Rubio implicitly rebuked Trump throughout a speech in Miami announcing he was dropping out of the race, imploring Americans to “not give in to the fear, do not give in to the frustration.” Reports from AP and AFP