Republican candidates, minus Trump, take center stage in Houston forum

The New York real-estate mogul holds a commanding 44-28 percent lead over Rubio among likely GOP primary voters, the Quinnipiac University poll found. U.S. Sen.

Republican Donald Trump notched his third win in a row Tuesday with a victory in Nevada’s GOP caucuses, giving him another shot of momentum a week before voters in Georgia and a dozen other states cast their ballots.

The contest was the fourth for the Republican presidential candidates, with Trump so far winning in New Hampshire and SC. Knowing that time is running short to overtake Trump, Cruz targeted Trump on Tuesday with his sharpest attacks yet.

On Wednesday, Trump won his first endorsements from sitting members of Congress, with Reps.

After these results from Nevada, our next clue in the Republican nomination contest will come Thursday, when the candidates will debate in Houston.

At the start of the show, Kelly said Trump was unable to attend as he had a “conflicting campaign event”, prompting snickers from the audience. With proportional representation in most states, he could trail Trump in votes that day and still hold his own in delegates.

“It’s going to be an incredible two months”, Trump said.

“Florida is the single biggest prize of the primary season because it is the largest state to allocate its delegates on a winner-take-all basis”. Rubio won seven, and Ted got six.

CNN and Fox News had Rubio in second place in Nevada with 23.7 per cent of the vote and Cruz in third with 21.5 per cent. He won a majority of voters, 51 percent, who have no college degree.

Trump and Cruz in particular have found strong support among those voters, who express concerns over terrorism, immigration and an economy whose recovery from the Great Recession has mostly benefited the country’s most wealthy.

“Rivalry, disunity, and baseless hatred in our ranks, have now put conservatives in danger of splintering our voice and nominating the weakest General Election candidate in the Republican field with the strongest probability of allowing Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonClinton: Republican opposition to court nomination “deeply disrespectful” to Obama GOP lawmaker calls on Cruz and Rubio to create joint ticket Chomsky: Fear is driving Trump’s popularity MORE to become President”, he said. Polls show the former first lady with a huge advantage among African-Americans, which bodes well for her prospects in the Southern states that vote next week.

Trump’s sweeping and decisive victory in the Nevada caucuses was declared by nearly all major U.S. TV networks immediately after the polls closed at 12:00 a.m. EST (0500 GMT). Clinton won the contest.

Not long after Trump’s win was certified in Nevada, Cruz’s campaign released a statement criticizing Rubio for not winning the state, but did not mention Trump at all.

OH governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson were pressed to defend the legitimacy of their campaigns as some Republicans have accused them of siphoning away votes from the senators.