CONSERVATIVE CORNER
CONNOR HOFFMAN
Assistant News Editor
This March 1 certainly was a crazy Super Tuesday for both parties. This election has really shown just how divided the parties are.
The Republicans had primaries in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming. There were about 595 of the 1,237 delegates needed to win up for grabs according to CNN.
All of the Republicans candidates came in with some delegates before these primaries. Donald Trump had 82, Sen. Ted Cruz had 17, Sen. Marco Rubio had 16, Governor John Kasich had six and Dr. Ben Carson had four, according to the Associated Press.
Going into the primaries there were high expectations for most of the Republican candidates other than Trump. Cruz had to win his home state of Texas and Rubio had to come out with some wins to cement himself as the anti-Trump candidate.
Trump wiped the competition in Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts and Tennessee. It was a close competition between him and Cruz in Arkansas, but he ended up beating him by about 10,000 votes. With all of these wins Trump was able to bring his delegate total up to 285.
Cruz had great showings in Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska. With these wins Cruz was able to bump his delegate count up to 161.
Rubio won in only Minnesota, but he was was able to pick up some delegates by coming in second and third place in other states, and came out of yesterday with a total of 83 delegates.
Kasich did not actually end up winning in first place in any of the primaries, but he was able to win some delegates due to his second place finish in Massachusetts.
The Democrats had primaries in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. There were about 865 delegates out of the 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination up for grabs yesterday according to CNN. Something interesting to note is about 150 of those delegates are superdelegates who are not bound to vote for who wins their primary, and these delegates had overwhelmingly pledged to support Clinton.
Clinton came in with 546 delegates while Sen. Bernie Sanders came in with 87 delegates according to the Associated Press.
Clinton wiped out Sanders in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. These wins put Clinton’s delegate count up to 1,001.
Sanders handily beat Clinton in Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont. Sanders was able to bump his delegate count up to 371.
After these elections I’m sure that we will see Carson and Kasich dropping out of the race soon, unless they’re using their campaigns to get the vice president slot or some other kind of cabinet position. They both have not won much in the primaries, but they both did pick up some delegates that they could use to help decide the nominee if there turns out to be a brokered convention.
I think at this point Carson and Kasich should seriously considering dropping out so that the Republicans can finally unite behind a candidate. The Republicans will get torn apart by Clinton or Sanders come November if these two continue to divide the field until the convention.
The real challenge now is for Rubio to try and pick himself up from only winning one state. Since Jeb Bush left, we have been sold the narrative that Rubio is the establishment choice. And for us to really believe him he must start winning elections soon. The toughest challenge for Rubio might come in his own home state of Florida where there have been several polls that showed him losing to Trump.
It certainly was interesting seeing just how divided these two parties are, and I can only imagine just how heated and close this November will turn out to be.
*Most Super Tuesday data was collected from Politico