WASHINGTON: Donald Trump became the apparent Republican presidential nominee on Wednesday as his two remaining rivals ended their White House bids.
Hours after his main rival, Senator Ted Cruz, withdrew from the race on Tuesday night, another opponent, Ohio Governor John Kasich’s aides said he too was ending his campaign.
The two decisions followed a thumping victory for Mr Trump in Indiana where he comfortably beat the two candidates.
The withdrawals bring to a close a wild Republican primary season with Mr Trump gradually eliminating all his opponents in this yearlong campaign.
Mr Trump captured all 51 delegates in Indiana with 53.3 per cent votes. Senator Cruz received 36.6pc votes, while only 7.6pc registered Republicans voted for Governor Kasich.
“Tonight, it appears that… the viable path to victory… has been foreclosed,” Mr Cruz said in his concession speech, ignoring a loud “no” from his supporters. “So with a heavy heart but with boundless optimism for the long-term future of our nation, we are suspending our campaign.”
In the Democratic primary, Senator Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton, after a string of earlier defeats. But the outcome is unlikely to change Ms Clinton’s sizable lead in delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.
The two withdrawals shook the US media, which, for long time, was reluctant to take Mr Trump as a serious candidate.
“A once unthinkable idea is now the Republican Party’s new political reality: Donald Trump is its presumptive presidential nominee,” commented CNN.
“Mr Trump is all but certain to roll into the Republican convention in July with the party establishment’s official but uneasy embrace,” wrote The New York Times.
“The celebrity mogul whose brash and unorthodox presidential bid was counted out time and again, became the de facto Republican nominee Tuesday night,” The Washington Post noted.
Almost all media outlets predicted that the victory in Indiana had virtually ensured that Mr Trump would get the 1,237 delegates needed before the Republican convention.
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