After several weeks of negative results, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump scored the most decisive victory of this campaign cycle. His massive win in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in New York was quite a comeback after he suffered back to back defeats in Colorado and Wyoming. Trump got 89 delegates out of the 95 available. Trump’s juggernaut had staled with massive negative publicity over some of the statements he had made regarding abortion. His victory in New York though has jump started his movement towards the Republican National Convention in Ohio. Although it is still doubtful whether or not Trump will have the 1,237 delegates necessary to cling the Republican nomination, this win slams the door closed of any possibility Cruz had hoped to get the nomination.
There is growing opinion in the exit polls regarding the one vote fairness over the delegate that has been unelected. Trump traveled extensively across the Empire State trying to secure more than 50 percent of the vote and to win across all the 27 congressional districts. This assured him of the maximum delegates from the state.
John Kasich, who has only won one state, his home state of Ohio, came in a distance second. There are growing cries for him to leave the race as under current Republican Convention rules he must win eight states to be eligible to be considered as an alternative candidate. Kasich is considered the establishment candidate versus Ted Cruz representing the conservative wing of the party, and then there is Trump in a rather unique position, which is hard to define.
The next few states seem to be favorable for Trump. Perhaps this landslide victory in New York will give him the tail wind that will propel him to further large margins of victory and driving him closer to the majority needed. However, a development in the delegate count that is gaining attention is the wining and dining of delegates that seem committed to Trump and are bound to him on the first ballot but will switch to Cruz in the second ballot. Many feel that Cruz’s ground game working behind the scenes wowing these delegates away from Trump may cost the New York business man the nomination at the convention. Trump has complained about this and called it a rigged convention already. “Nobody has better toys than I do,” Trump said. “Delegate, listen, we’re going to send you to Mar-a-Lago on a Boeing 757, you’re going to use the spa, you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that, we want your vote.’ That’s a corrupt system.”
While the Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton all but closed the door on her opponent Bernie Sanders, he too, is complaining about the super-delegates that were already committed to Clinton before the first shot was fired of the Democratic competition.
This promises that both sides will win our attention all the way through to each of the parties’ conventions. Do you think it should be “one man one vote” or left to unelected delegates to choose the nominee, and therefore the future leader of our democracy?
By Dasa Rosca