March 15 opens a new phase in this year's primary season. Voters in five states will head to the polls to help determine the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, but the two big ones — Ohio and Florida — are winner-take-all on the GOP side.
That means whoever wins those states wins all of their delegates. Florida and Ohio also happen to be the home states of Marco Rubio and John Kasich, respectively. They desperately need wins to keep their campaigns going.
These states are also ground zero for efforts to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican nomination outright. If Trump wins one or both states, vacuuming up all their delegates, his path to the 1,237 required to clinch the nomination becomes much easier, Ted Cruz's becomes much harder and everyone else's becomes nearly impossible.
Trump can either take a big step toward victory or Cruz can eat away at his delegate lead, setting himself up to compete at a brokered convention and maybe even beat the billionaire in the primaries. For Rubio and Kasich, it is likely win or go home.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders hopes he can replicate his Michigan success in Ohio: press his populist economic message and win over enough union voters to compete in a racially diverse state. Hillary Clinton still has a big delegate lead, padded by "superdelegates," Democratic leaders who get to vote as free agents at the national convention, not allocated by any state or bound to any candidate.
Get the Exclusive
05.04.2024