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It Is Mathematically Impossible For Ted Cruz To Win The GOP Nomination Before The Republican National Convention

By Tara West
Published on: 10:47 PST, Apr 23, 2016

After a huge loss in New York, it is mathematically impossible for Ted Cruz to win the GOP nomination before the Republican National Convention. In order to secure the nomination, a candidate must earn 1,237 delegates. In the GOP race, there is only one candidate who has the possibility of earning the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination without contest. That candidate is businessman Donald Trump. Therefore, if Ted Cruz stays in the race, it would only be to block Trump’s automatic nomination in the hopes that he could win the nomination on the second ballot when delegates are no longer bound and can vote for whoever candidate they see fit regardless of primary voting results. This means that if Cruz hopes to secure the nomination, he will have to do so without the majority support of Republican voters.

The Associated Press reports that following a big loss in New York, Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz no longer has a viable path to securing the 1,237 delegates needed to earn the GOP’s presidential nomination on the first ballot at the RNC. It is noted that Cruz has now been “mathematically eliminated” from the race and only has a chance of winning the GOP nomination by blocking Trump in order to ensure a contested convention. This would mean that Cruz would have to bypass the Republican voters to secure the nomination as he only has a chance of winning the nomination on the second or third RNC ballot after delegates are no longer bound to primary and caucus votes.

“There aren’t enough delegates left in future contests for either Cruz or Kasich to reach the 1,237 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination. Their only hope is to block Trump and force a contested convention.”

Following the realization that Cruz no longer has a mathematical path to the GOP nomination on the first ballot, many have pointed to the candidate’s past statements to John Kasich. The Washington Post reports that prior to his loss in New York, Cruz blasted Kasich for staying in the GOP race despite having no mathematical chance of earning the nomination.

“If you want to stop Donald Trump, there is only one campaign and only one candidate who has done so repeatedly and who has any plausible path to do so. For Kasich, it’s mathematically impossible.”

Little did Cruz know at the time of that bold statement that he would be in the same boat the following week. Cruz was unable to secure a single delegate in New York after Trump won an astonishing 60.5 percent of the votes in the Empire State. Kasich even beat Cruz pulling in three new delegates. With the loss, Cruz now must decide if he will heed his own advice and leave the race in order to unite the Republican party behind Trump in a bid to take out Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in the general election, or if he will remain in the race in an attempt to earn enough delegates to ensure a brokered convention.

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has called for both Kasich and Cruz to exit the race and to throw their support behind the only candidate with a chance of winning the nomination.

While a brokered convention may provide Cruz with a path to the presidential seat, he was once quoted saying that a contested convention would be a “pipe-dream” for the Republican establishment and that they hope nothing more than to “snatch this nomination from the people.” With harsh words like that about the idea of a brokered convention, one must ask, why is Cruz still in the race with it now being mathematically impossible for him to win on the first ballot?

Trump notes that with no path to victory in the first ballot, all Cruz can do is “be a spoiler” which is “never a nice thing to do.” Do you think Ted Cruz should drop out of the Republican primary in order to unite the party before the general election?

[Image via AP Photo/David J. Phillip]

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