Presidential Race

Presidential Race

On November 8, the 2016 United States presidential election will be held. It will be the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election. The elections in the United States are a long process. Candidates vying for the presidency began to announce their candidacy from the beginning of 2015.

Debates

The 2016 US Presidential elections witnessed about 12 debates where the candidates argued with each other on wide range of issues pertaining to foreign policy, ISIS, domestic issues, gun control, and immigration among others. The debates were hosted by prominent news channels such as Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, and others.

The first Republican debate was held on August 6, 2015, in Cleveland, Ohio, and the twelfth and final debate was held on March 10, 2016, in Florida. The first Democratic debate was held on October 13, 2015, in Las Vegas, while the ninth one was organized in New York.

Primaries

From February 1, 2016, onwards primaries and caucuses were held in all the states and territories of the country. The Iowa Republican Caucus held on February 1 witnessed Ted Cruz emerging victorious. Thereafter Donald Trump made a spectacular comeback bagging a series of victories. Marco Rubio, who was at one time favored to win the Republican nomination, fared poorly winning just three states – Minnesota, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. Marco Rubio pulled out of the US presidential race after losing to rival Donald Trump in the Florida primary held on March 15. On May 3 after losing to Donald Trump in the Indiana primary, Ted Cruz, too, withdrew from the presidential race. Later, Ohio Governor John Kasich also suspended his campaign leaving Donald Trump the presumptive nominee.

The Democratic contest was largely between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Major candidates such as Lawrence Lessig, Lincoln Chaffee and Jim Webb had already withdrawn from the presidential race prior to the start of the caucuses and primaries on February 1. Martin O’Malley pulled out of the race after a poor performance in the Iowa Caucus held on February 1.

Bernie Sanders gave tough competition to Hillary Clinton but could not stop her from becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. The required number of delegates to win the nomination is 2383 while Hillary Clinton currently has 2,780 delegates.

Though Bernie Sanders has not yet pulled out of the race but by now it is certain that the finals contest will be between a Democratic Hillary Clinton and Republican Bernie Sanders.

The 2016 Republican National Convention will be held from July 18 to 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio while the 2016 Democratic National Convention will take place from July 25 to 28 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.