Cruz Suspends Campaign After Trump Wins Indiana

Ted Cruz is ending his campaign for president, putting Donald Trump on a glide path to claim the Republican Party's nomination.

"The movement that you have started is incredible. From the beginning I said I will continue on as long as there is a path to victory. Tonight I’m sorry to say that path has been foreclosed," Cruz told a group of Indiana supporters Tuesday night. "Together we left it all on there on the field in Indiana. but voters chose another path. With a heavy heart we are suspending our campaign."

The conservative firebrand and Texas senator had tried to cast himself as the only viable alternative to the billionaire businessman. But his campaign said he was to announce his decision to drop out of the race after losing to Trump in Tuesday's Indiana primary.

Trump took a major step toward sewing up the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a victory in Indiana's primary election, dashing the hopes of rival Ted Cruz and other GOP forces who fear the brash businessman will doom their party in the general election.

Donald Trump took a major step toward sewing up the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a victory in Indiana’s primary election, dashing the hopes of rival Ted Cruz and other GOP forces who fear the brash businessman will doom their party in the general election.

While Trump can't mathematically clinch the GOP nomination with his victory in Indiana, his path now becomes easier and he has more room for error in the remaining primary contests. The real estate mogul will collect at least 45 of Indiana's 57 delegates, and now needs less than 200 more in upcoming contests.

"Thank you Indiana, we were just projected to be the winner," Trump wrote on Twitter. "We have won in every category. You are very special people -- I will never forget!"

Cruz, who hasn't topped Trump in a month, campaigned vigorously in Indiana, securing the endorsement of the state's governor and announcing businesswoman Carly Fiorina as his running mate. But he appeared to lose momentum in the final days of campaigning and let his frustration with Trump boil over Tuesday, calling the billionaire "amoral" and a "braggadocious, arrogant buffoon."

Tuesday evening, Cruz dropped out of the race.

Trump responded by saying Cruz "does not have the temperament to be president of the United States." Earlier Tuesday Trump had rehashed unsubstantiated claims that the Texan's father, Rafael Cruz, appeared in a 1963 photograph with John F. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald -- citing a report first published by the National Enquirer.

Whether a united Republican Party is even possible with Trump at the helm remains highly uncertain. Even before the Indiana results were finalized, some conservative leaders were planning a Wednesday meeting to assess the viability of launching a third party candidacy to compete with Trump in the fall.

One outside group trying to stop Trump suggested it would shift its attention to helping Republicans in other races. Rory Cooper, a senior adviser to the Never Trump super PAC, said the group will help protect "Republican incumbents and down-ballot candidates, by distinguishing their values and principles from that of Trump, and protecting them from a wave election."

Only about half of Indiana's Republican primary voters said they were excited or even optimistic about any of their remaining candidates becoming president, according to exit polls. Still, most said they probably would support whoever won for the GOP.

The exit polls were conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

A fall showdown between Clinton and Trump would pit one of Democrats' most experienced political figures against a first-time candidate who is deeply divisive within his own party. Cruz and other Republicans have argued that Trump would be roundly defeated in the general election, denying their party the White House for a third straight term.

Trump has now won seven straight primary contests and has 80 percent of the delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination. With his victory in Indiana, Trump now has at least 1,041 delegates. Cruz has 565 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 152.

Pace reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report from Washington.

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