March 11, 2016

Bernie Sanders claimed a big win in Michigan on March 8, but he still has an uphill battle to overtake Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.  
Credit: © Bernie 2016

Since Super Tuesday (March 1), a number of state primary and caucus elections have been held in the race for the presidential nomination. On March 5, Republican Ted Cruz won Kansas and Maine while Donald Trump won Louisiana and Kentucky. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders won Kansas and Nebraska while Louisiana went for Hillary Clinton. On March 6, Sanders won Maine as well. That same day, the Republicans held their primary in the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican citizens cannot vote in the November presidential election, but they are allowed to select delegates for political conventions. Puerto Rico gave a rare win to Marco Rubio. Rubio’s only previous win had been in Minnesota.

On March 8, Donald Trump won Hawaii, Michigan, and Mississippi, while Cruz won in Idaho. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton won Mississippi and Bernie Sanders won Michigan, where polls had favored Clinton by as much as 20 percent. Michigan represented Sanders’s first win in a large Midwestern state with a racially diverse population.

The next major primaries and caucuses will be held March 15. All of the states voting on the 15th—Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio—are holding primaries for both parties. Three of the states have native sons or daughters in the running. Marco Rubio is from Florida, Hillary Clinton is from Illinois, and Republican John Kasich is from Ohio. It is not a good sign when a candidate cannot win his or her own state in an election. Clinton is expected to win Illinois by a wide margin. Kasich is predicted to win Ohio by a small margin over Trump. Rubio is predicted to lose to Trump in Florida.

Other World Book articles

• Super Tuesday Favors Clinton and Trump
• Trump and Clinton Lead; Bush Quits
• Outsiders Rule in New Hampshire
• Iowa Surprises Us All

February 24, 2016

Several primaries and caucuses have occurred over the last few days in the Democratic and Republican races for the U.S. presidential nomination.

On February 20, in Nevada, the Democrats held caucuses to select delegates for the Democratic Convention. The convention will be held July 25-28 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In Nevada, Bernie Sanders exceeded expectations, but he was unable to win against Hillary Clinton. The final count was a vote of 52.6 percent and 20 delegates for Clinton and 47.3 percent and 15 delegates for Sanders. Sanders did better than had been expected with Hispanic American voters, gaining 53 percent of the tally against Clinton’s 45 percent. With African American voters, however, Clinton was strongly ahead. Nationally, 65 percent of African American voters favor Hillary Clinton and 22 percent favor Bernie Sanders. This will matter in the upcoming primary in South Carolina, a state with a large African American population.

A Democratic candidate needs 2,383 delegates to win the nomination. Currently, Clinton has 502 and Sanders 70. Clinton’s lead is built purely on superdelegates. Clinton and Sanders both have 51 delegates through voting, but Clinton has 451 superdelegates against Bernie Sanders’ 19. Superdelegates are people chosen by the Democratic Party who are automatically seated at the convention and may vote for whomever they choose.

Democrats and Republicans hold separate votes in Nevada and South Carolina. The Republicans held their South Carolina primary on February 20. Donald Trump won that primary with 32 percent of the vote. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio tied for second place, each with 22 percent of the vote. Jeb Bush ran a distant fourth, with 7.9 percent of the vote.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks at a town hall meeting in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 18. His poor showing in the South Carolina primary two days later ended his campaign. Credit: © Shutterstock

After his poor showing in South Carolina, Bush suspended his campaign. His fourth place finish in South Carolina had followed a fourth place finish in New Hampshire and a sixth place finish in Iowa. When he joined the race in 2015, he had been seen as a favorite for the nomination. He is from a political family, and both his father, George H.W., and brother, George W., have been U.S. presidents. In addition, Jeb Bush had far more campaign money than any other candidate. The New York Times reported that Bush had spent $130 million on his campaign, a huge sum and more than twice the amount spent by any other Republican candidate. But, Bush was an establishment candidate in a year in which voters were looking for an outsider.

In the Republican caucus in Nevada on February 23, Donald Trump won resoundingly, with 45.9 percent of the vote and 14 delegates. Marco Rubio won second place, with 23.9 percent of the vote and 7 delegates. Ted Cruz came in third, with 21.4 percent and 6 delegates. Candidates John Kasich and Ben Carson each got fewer than 5 percent of the votes.

The Republican candidate needs 1,231 delegates to clinch the nomination. Currently, Donald Trump has 81 and both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have 17. The Republican Party has far fewer superdelegates, and they must vote as their state votes.