Minutes ago, GOP hopeful [score]Ted Cruz[/score] announced that he is suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination for president. The announcement came an hour after the media collectively projected that Donald Trump will win the Indiana primary by a sizable margin.
Surrounded by his family, the Texas Senator told a crowd of supporters in Indianapolis:
I said I would continue on as long as there is a viable path to victory. Tonight, I’m sorry to say, it appears that path has been foreclosed. Together we left it all on the field in Indiana. We gave it everything we got, but the voters chose another path and so with a heavy heart, but with boundless optimism for the long term future of our nation, we are suspending our campaign..
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
This development will come as a shock to many voters who expected Cruz, win or lose tonight, to remain in the race for at least the foreseeable future. It certainly comes as a surprise to many in the blogosphere, not least among them my colleague A.F. Branco, who just today published a cartoon depicting a fat lady boarded up in her dressing room and captioned “It’s not over, yet.”
The next phase of the Republican nomination process began almost instantly following Cruz’s concession speech. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus wasted no time tweeting:
.@realDonaldTrump will be presumptive @GOP nominee, we all need to unite and focus on defeating @HillaryClinton #NeverClinton
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) May 4, 2016
