Politics

Trump Officially Wins GOP Nomination

Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign stop at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Creative Commons/Matt A.J.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump obtained more than the 1,237 delegate votes needed to secure the GOP presidential nomination Tuesday at the Republican National Convention.

“New York, New York” was played as it was announced he met the mark, having taken in 2,427 winning his home state.

Trump received a total of 1,725, followed by former presidential candidates Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 475, Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 120, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with 114, Ben Carson with seven, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with three and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul with two.

All of Ohio’s 66 delegates went to Kasich.

Minnesota, Iowa, Washington, Colorado, Washington, D.C., North Dakota, Alaska, Virginia, Utah, Maine and Wyoming all supported other candidates, but despite the lack of support, many still had their entire delegate count allocated toward Trump because he was the only one formally placed in nomination.

Despite 10 votes in the District of Columbia having been cast for Rubio and nine having been cast for Kasich, all 19 votes were allocated to Trump – which was met with boos from the delegates. Utah went to Cruz, but all 40 delegates were allocated to Trump.

Alaska attempted to contest the state’s delegate count, but Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said the shift in delegates was valid due to other candidates dropping out.

The “Never Trump” movement unsuccessfully attempted to derail the billionaire’s nomination Monday. They pushed for a rules change that would have freed the delegates to vote as they pleased. The initiative was quickly shot down by GOP officials.

Trump is expected to face presumed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the general election.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place in Philadelphia July 25-28.

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