Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) flew to Michigan with the wind at his back Tuesday night, continuing his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination following a commanding second-place victory in the Nevada Republican Party Caucuses.
Donald Trump claimed a third straight commanding victory in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. A tight race for second between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz offered little evidence that Republicans were ready to coalesce around one strong alternative to the businessman billionaire.
Rubio’s win in Nevada continued a streak that began with a third-place triumph in the Iowa Caucuses, a fifth-place finish in the New Hampshire Primary and a second-place win in the South Carolina Primary. The results in Nevada confirm Rubio’s status as the prohibitive favorite for the GOP nomination.
Rubio, who has emerged as the Republican establishment's favorite to derail Trump's progress, can take some solace in finishing second. But that also has to be viewed as somewhat of a setback considering that he had frequently campaigned in Nevada, having lived there for years as a child. A Cuban-American, he had attempted to rally the support of the state's large Latino population.
Rubio had also benefitted from the departure Saturday of Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, from the race. That brought an influx of new funds, a bevy of endorsements, and a wealth of media attention. But none of it was enough to overtake Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump, who finished a mere 20 points ahead of Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, blamed stupid Republican voters for his failure to place higher than first in the Silver State’s GOP caucus.
“We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated — I love the poorly educated,” he said. “This is an amazing night.”