Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Ohio Governor John Kasich both dropped out of the Republican presidential primary following another win for Donald Trump in Indiana.
Trump’s win secures his nomination as the GOP candidate, barring a surprise at the national convention this summer. Before suspending his campaign, Cruz was anointed as the more reasonable and less controversial anti-establishment candidate after Florida Sen. Marco Rubio withdrew from the primary race in mid-March, much to the dismay of other anti-establishment Republicans. Former Speaker of the House John Boehner spoke to an audience at Stanford University last week and described Cruz as “Lucifer in the flesh” and said he has “never worked with a more miserable son of a b***h” in his life.”
Cruz attempted to brand himself as the consistent, principled conservative contender in the race and, in an act of final desperation to stay politically above-water, joined forces with John Kasich to try to defeat the business mogul from New York. Kasich officially suspended his campaign on May 4, after receiving an underwhelming 153 delegates in the course of his run for the presidency.
DePaul College Republicans member John Minster planned on voting for Cruz at the beginning of the primary and held onto hope until he suspended his campaign.
“I supported Ted Cruz because he was the strongest conservative on the issues important to me. He had the most grassroots support among conservatives,” Minster said, referring to some Trump supporters as the “Trump Cult” who brand Republicans who don’t support the businessman as “heretics.”
Minster referred to Trump as an “authoritarian nationalist with progressive tendencies.”
“I will never support Hillary Clinton,” Minster said. “I may just write in Ted Cruz. Trump is the first Republican candidate that you can actually make arguments for being racist or sexist. They may not be true, but you can definitely make an argument. It’s sad because it affirms stereotypes that Democrats and the liberal media put on us.”
Cruz is an alum of Princeton University and was almost responsible for single-handedly shutting down the federal government in 2013.
Evan Draim, former president of the Princeton College Republicans and youngest delegate to the 2012 RNC, said that though Cruz lost, he respected his passion and leadership skills.
“He is a principled leader, and, even though I disagree with him on certain issues, I always respected his courage and conviction,” Draim said.
Cruz sought to rally conservatives in the #NeverTrump faction of the party, but did not offer enough of an alternative to Trump’s policies to appeal to the moderate conservative base. Carly Fiorina, Cruz’s choice for vice president, was seen as an olive branch to a more moderate Republican party, but the campaign was suspended just seven days after Cruz chose the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and presidential candidate to be his running mate.
Rory Guth, a libertarian and DePaul junior, said she doesn’t know who she’s voting for in the general election.
“It’s a tough question, because I’m not satisfied with either party’s selections. I’m embarrassed that Trump is the Republican nominee now. It’s embarrassing for our country and the Republican Party,” Guth said.“When I picture the leader of our country, I picture someone who is intelligent, secure, strong and honest and that description doesn’t match up with any of the candidates, in my opinion.”
Cruz’s surrender likely cedes the nomination to Trump, as confirmed by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus via Twitter. “@realDonaldTrump will be presumptive @GOP nominee, we all need to unite and focus on defeating @HillaryClinton #NeverClinton,” the tweet read.
Draim said that Priebus’s tweet was “somewhat premature.”
“The Republican National Committee has an obligation to remain completely neutral during nomination contests,” Draim said. “At the time Chairman Priebus made those comments, John Kasich was still in the race, Donald Trump had not reached 1,237 delegates and nine states still had to vote.”
Trump expressed a need to unite the party as well, when he said “we want to bring unity to the Republican Party. We have to bring unity, it’s so much easier if we have it.” Trump skated to an easy Indiana win hours after alleging in a phone interview with Fox News that Cruz’s father was connected to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
It looks as though Secretary Clinton may benefit the most from the #NeverTrump party, with several high-ranking Republican strategists and former elected officials taking to Twitter after Cruz’s surrender.
Since news of Cruz and Kasich dropping out, the party has issued responses, some in support and some against the potential nominee. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said that he was not ready to support Trump as of now.
Mark Salter, a John McCain strategist, tweeted “The GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it’s on the level. I’m with her.” The tweet was sent 65 minutes after Reince Priebus, RNC Chairman, called on the party to unite to defeat Clinton.
Ben Howe, contributing editor at Redstate.com, tweeted “#ImWithHer” as soon as Reuters projected Trump winning Indiana at 4:05 CT. He followed up with “I’m drinking wine directly out of the bottle right now. #NeverTrump”
“I am no longer a Republican,” Howe tweeted after Cruz dropped out of the primary.