GOP delegate math says Trump not inevitable

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2016/03/02/gop-delegate-math-says-trump-not-inevitable/

Despite Donald Trump’s string of victories on Tuesday, he has to do better in upcoming contests to claim the Republican nomination for president before the party’s national convention this summer.

Ted Cruz is emerging as the candidate who could stop him — with a little help from Marco Rubio.

A close look at the delegate math illustrates Trump’s problem. So far Trump has won only 46 percent of the delegates, even though he has won 10 of the first 15 contests. It takes an outright majority of delegates to win the nomination.

On Tuesday, Cruz muted Trump’s delegate gains by winning delegate-rich Texas, which is Cruz’s home state.

The delegate math illustrates the importance of the March 15 primaries in Florida and Ohio in which the statewide winner gets all the delegates.

For the night, Trump won at least 234 delegates and Cruz won at least 209. Marco Rubio was a distant third with at least 90.

There were 595 Republican delegates at stake in 11 states. There were still 40 delegates left to be allocated Wednesday morning.

Texas was the biggest prize on Tuesday, with 155 delegates at stake. Cruz won at least 99 delegates in the state and Trump got at least 33, with 20 left to be awarded. Rubio picked up three.

Overall, Trump leads with 316 delegates and Cruz has 226. Rubio has 106 delegates, John Kasich has 25 and Ben Carson has eight.

It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.