Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton scored big presidential primary wins on Tuesday, winning a slew of crucial states to expand their delegate leads and move both front-runners even closer to their party nominations.
But the night wasn’t a total triumph for Trump, who scored big wins in the Republican presidential primaries in Illinois, North Carolina, and Florida — where an embarrassing home state loss prompted Senator Marco Rubio to abruptly end his campaign — but suffered a setback by losing Ohio to Gov. John Kasich, who rode his home state to a crucial, campaign-saving win.
That delegate-rich victory by Kasich, along with the solid performance of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas — who earned the second highest number of delegates on the night, finishing a close second in Illinois and North Carolina — greatly increases the chances that the Republican race could go into the July convention undecided.
Clinton rebounded from her recent loss to rival Bernie Sanders in Michigan to score a crucial victory in Ohio, while notching additions wins in Illinois, Florida and North Carolina. “We are moving closer to securing the Democratic Party nomination and winning this election in November,” Clinton said in a rousing speech in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Both Kasich and Clinton also took swipes at the GOP front-runner and billionaire over the recent outbreak of violence at his rallies. Trump has refused to take responsibility for a series of clashes in Chicago and St. Louis, which the tough-talking billionaire has blamed on Sanders supporters.
“It’s been my intention to make you proud,” Kasich told supporters at an Northeast Ohio rally. “I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land.”
“Our commander-in-chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it,” Clinton said. “We can’t lose what made America great in the first place.”
