Tuesday’s Primary Elections: 6 Takeaways

1.  Hillary Clinton continues to lead the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. Wins in Ohio and Florida in particular put her in a commanding position, one analyst describing it as not quite a knockout of rival Bernie Sanders, but close.

2.  Donald Trump holds his lead in the Republican race despite losing Ohio, but securing the delegates needed for the nomination before the convention in July is not a certainty. He would need to win more than half of the remaining delegates to clinch.

3.  Marco Rubio’s loss in his home state of Florida put him out of the running and perhaps out of politics for a while, since he did not run for reelection to his Senate seat, which he will relinquish in January.

4.  Ohio Governor John Kasich won his home state’s 66 delegates.  That, along with Rubio’s withdrawal from the race creates an opportunity for the Republican «establishment» to lend him political and financial support, after Cruz attracted crucial endorsements in recent days.

5.  Texas Senator Ted Cruz says he is the only one who can beat Trump, but with no delegates Tuesday from Florida and Ohio he’s facing an uphill battle, holding only two-thirds as many delegates as the frontrunner.

6.  Despite Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ close losses to Clinton, the proportional distribution of delegates keeps him in the running, although he lost ground due to Clinton’s bigger vote count in Florida.