2016 Election Update

 

Around this time last year, there were 22 different politicians running for their respective party’s nomination, 17 Republicans and 5 Democrats. Of the 22 of them, as of mid-May, 2016, only three remain, 2 Democrats, and Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee for the GOP.

How did we get to this point? Well, looking back over the past year, it has been quite an interesting election cycle. No one had taken Donald Trump seriously as a candidate, but over time, he increasingly became the reality of what we know to be America’s current political climate. And up until last year, Hillary Clinton had no real challenge for the Democratic nomination; enter Bernie Sanders.

Since the primaries began, both parties partook in debates that were heated, to say the least. For the Republican party, their debates resembled reality TV, in which several of the candidates personally insulted one another. Some wanted to turn the attention to the issues, rather than insult one another, but that hardly became the case. As for the Democrats, it had seemingly become a battle of who is the more ‘progressive’ candidate, and who would be the most experienced/best candidate the Democratic party could nominate to beat any Republican nominee.

Following the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary, after Bernie Sanders had taken a victory in New Hampshire and Hillary Clinton in Iowa (though some believe it was a virtual tie), and Donald Trump winning in New Hampshire, while Ted Cruz had taken Iowa, many candidates felt their run for the nomination had now come to a close. Martin O’Malley(D), Carly Fiorina(R), Rand Paul(R), and many others decided to leave the race.

As the primaries progressed, it became clear that much of conservative America sees Trump as a legitimate candidate, and as a result, he began gaining victories in the Northeast and South, compelling others like Ben Carson(R) and Chris Christie(R) to drop out. Ted Cruz won a state here and there, John Kasich won his home state of Ohio, but ultimately they were no match for Trump’s overwhelming popularity. And by early, they were both out of the race, leaving Trump the presumptive nominee for the GOP.

As for the Democratic Party, Sen. Sanders has surprised many. Much like Trump, many did not take him very seriously as a candidate. But over time, his popularity began to grow, he won several contests, and the Clinton campaign began taking the Sanders camp pretty seriously. The former first lady, senator from New York, and secretary of state has won big contests such as the New York and Pennsylvania primaries, and tried to change the tone;; she is ready, at this point, to turn her attention to the election in November, where she would face Donald Trump. But The Vermont senator is not going away.  With recent victories and Oregon and a very surprising challenge to Clinton in Kentucky, Sanders campaign looks to continue challenging Clinton for the nomination. With his attention on the big California primary in early June, Sanders believes he has a chance come the convention, so it will be interesting to see what happens.  

Once July rolls around, we will have two nominees that will face off in the November election, whomever they may be. A lot of people feel that a Clinton/Trump election will compel many to look to third-party candidates such as Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party and Jill Stein of the Green Party. It will be quite interesting to see how things turn out in November, whatever the case may be.