We’re moving closer each day to knowing the candidates for each party for president of the United States. On the Republican side, Donald Trump came out the winner after last week’s Super Tuesday, winning the states of Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina, and accumulating the necessary delegates needed to win the nomination.
Governor John Kasich managed to win his home state of Ohio which gives him an excuse to stay in the race after winning such an important state, although it will be mathematically impossible for him to reach Trump in delegates. Senator Cruz did not win a state but won some delegates in states that distribute their delegates proportionally. While Senator Marco Rubio was forced to withdraw from the race as a result of not winning his own state of Florida.
These Trump victories come after a weekend filled with violent clashes and protests at all of his campaign events. These events concern many, even in the Republican Party, recognizing that Trump will be a very divisive, extremist, demagogue leader, who will continue to cause great damage to the Republican brand.
Apparently, violence and racist rhetoric from Donald Trump and his followers is helping to galvanize Democrats and inspiring them to get out the vote. The former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won all the states that had contests on Super Tuesday. She was expected to win Florida and North Carolina with by large margins. In Florida, Hillary won with more than 30 points margin. North Carolina was the same. But in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri were states in which Bernie Sanders was expect to show stronger numbers and it turns out that Clinton won them all. It is still difficult for Sanders to build relationships and credibility with communities of color in the country, which are needed in order to become the party’s nominee.
Hillary’s win in Florida would not have been possible without the support of our Latino community and with this win she solidified her position as the best person to lead the Democratic Party to victory in November. This does not mean that Senator Sanders is going to get out of the race or should get out of the race, quite the opposite, but every day it’s becoming more difficult for him to mathematically reach the delegate count needed to beat Hillary.
Something we should also take into account which also helps Hillary Clinton, is the danger of Donald Trump and his likely candidacy, which is real. People also know that despite all the nice promises that Bernie Sanders can make, many are taking their vote seriously and voting for someone with more realism in their proposals, someone who can beat Trump in November. So I think many were encouraged to send a message to Trump: Donald Trump is the enemy of all values represented by this great nation, wanting to deport 12 million immigrants, saying that we must deny entry to all Muslims, and insulting women, veterans, and the disabled. Friends, the danger is serious and American people are realizing it.
This article originally appeared in The Washington Hispanic
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