Ted Cruz officially can’t win the Republican Presidential race outright
(Getty)
Anti-LGBT Republican Ted Cruz is now mathematically unable to win his party’s Presidential nomination outright, after his latest defeat to Donald Trump.
The ultra-conservative hopeful has been trailing Donald Trump in the Republican race for some time, amassing just 559 delegates to Mr Trump’s 845.
His total is far short of the 1,237 needed to win the nomination outright – and after yesterday’s New York primary, it is now mathematically impossible for Senator Cruz to reach the line by himself, even if he picks up every single remaining delegate in every remaining contest.
Trump took 60.5% of the vote in New York, while Ohio Governor John Kasich picked up 25.1%. Cruz scraped just 14.5% – failing to win a single delegate in the state.
Though it is now impossible for him to win outright, Senator Cruz is unlikely to drop out of the race – as senior Republicans are plotting ways to prevent Trump from taking the nomination.
If Trump also falls short of the 1,237 delegate count, Cruz could manage to scoop the nomination via a contested convention in June.
Though there are a number of strategies on the table, party officials rally could seek to ‘stop’ Trump by urging his delegates to switch their votes in the second round of voting.
Associated Press notes: “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.”
A militant opponent of gay rights, Senator Cruz has strongly backed new anti-LGBT ‘religious freedom’ laws to allow religious people to discriminate against married gay couples – and also supports a Constitutional amendment to void same-sex marriage entirely.
Cruz also claimed transgender people are a threat to his daughters, branded actress Ellen Page a “liberal fascist” when she confronted his stance, and also faces tough questions about his links with ‘death to gays’ pastor Kevin Swanson.
