Trump And The Remaining Republican Delegates

Despite a campaign e-mail sent to supporters Tuesday night promising the Ohio governor would stay in the Republican primary race in order to stop Donald Trump from clinching the nomination, John Kasich will reportedly drop out Wednesday. After Ted Cruz suspended his campaign Tuesday night, Kasich's departure will make Trump the only remaining GOP candidate and the unofficial nominee. Since he's the last man standing, many are wondering if Trump will get all the Republican delegates now.

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted Tuesday night, "@realDonaldTrump will be presumptive @GOP nominee, we all need to unite and focus on defeating @HillaryClinton #NeverClinton," confirming that Trump would now be viewed as the party's representative on the November ballot. However, Kasich's campaign said in an e-mail Tuesday night that "our strategy has been and continues to be one that involves winning the nomination at an open convention." The Kasich team must have changed their mind after further discussion about the mathematical improbability of there even being a contested convention without Cruz in the race.

In order to secure the GOP nomination, a candidate needs at least 1,237 delegates — Trump currently has 1,007, Cruz has 546, Rubio has 173, and Kasich has 153. After Rubio suspended his campaign, his delegates remained his for the time being, so it's a little unclear what will happen now that it's just Trump left.

As a last-ditch attempt to prevent a Trump nomination, Rubio asked the states in which he won delegates to keep them bound to vote for him at the convention in July. Because he technically "suspended" his campaign and didn't officially end it, the state parties could choose to honor his request — and they could do the same for Cruz's and Kasich's delegates as well since they used the same language when dropping out of the race. So, Trump may not receive all the delegates depending on what each individual state Republican party decides to do.

Either way though, he's bound to become the nominee. As the only remaining candidate, winning the remaining nine GOP primaries with an accumulative 445 delegates would push him over the 1,237 requirement. He really doesn't need Cruz's, Kasich's, and Rubio's delegates at this point. The RNC chairman recognizing him as the presumptive nominee also signifies that the party's leadership will no longer resist naming Trump as their candidate, so there probably won't be any major surprises at the convention.

The #NeverTrump candidates did everything in their power to stop the billionaire's rise, but it's too late for sad attempts at keeping delegates from voting for him at this point. Trump might not get all the delegates, but he'll certainly get enough.