GOP field grows
While Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich split the anti-Trump vote, the former TV celebrity piled up delegates from key primaries. That got him the GOP presidential nomination and, eventually, the White House.
In South Carolina, for example, Trump swept the at-large delegates by finishing first statewide, and he carried each of South Carolina’s congressional districts, which gave him all 50 delegates. He did that even though he drew only 32.5 percent of the statewide vote to Rubio’s 22.5 percent and Cruz’s 22.3 percent.
In the crucial March 15 primaries, Kasich won his state’s winner-take-all primary (47 percent to 36 percent for Trump), while Trump won winner-take-all Florida (46 percent to 27 percent for Rubio and 17 percent for Cruz).
That day, Trump also won Illinois (39 percent to Cruz’s 30 percent), North Carolina (40 percent to 37 percent for Cruz), and Missouri (40.8 percent to 40.6 percent for Cruz).
