2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
Twelve presidential debates and nine forums were held between the candidates for the Republican Party's nomination for president in the 2016 United States presidential election.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Schedule
The Republican National Committee announced the 2015–2016 debate schedule on January 16, 2015. It revealed that 12 debates would be held, in contrast to the 20 debates that were held from 2011 to 2012. The announcement included which news organizations would host each debate, with Fox News and CNN having three each; and one each for ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, Fox Business Network, and a conservative media outlet to be announced. It had some changes during the primary.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Schedule
The first live-broadcast debate occurred on Thursday, August 6, 2015, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. It was seen on the Fox News Channel by 24 million viewers, making the debate the most watched live broadcast for a non-sporting event in cable television history. Due to the number of candidates running for nomination, Fox News aired two separate debates on August 6, with the less popular candidates going first, followed by the candidates with more support in the 'prime time' debate.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Schedule
One debate per month followed through December 2015. The GOP candidates debated twice in January and three times in February 2016. On February 20, 2016, the RNC announced a thirteenth debate, which was to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, March 21. This would have made for three debates in March, but the event was later canceled due to all but one of the candidates opting not to attend.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Schedule
The following table lists the twelve RNC debates which took place, along with the dates, times, places, hosts, and participants.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Polling effect
The use of polling data had initially been criticized by polling firms such as highly regarded Marist. Prior to the first debate, Marist decided to temporarily suspend its national polling of preferences for the Republican nominee on the basis that using non-scientific polling data to select the bipartisan debate field puts polling firms such as Marist under pressure to produce high-precision results that are inherently impossible to provide at that point in time.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Polling effect
For instance, it would be difficult to determine the margin of error in any statistical sampling process like a preference poll (see statistical tie for tenth place, and more generally the independence of clones).


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Polling effect
FiveThirtyEight made the point of the varying degrees of discretion the television networks gave themselves with their distinct debate invitation criteria, noting that polling data can only be seen as an objective method for selection of the debate participants, if the full and exact criteria are made clear in advance. The rhetoric about the pros and cons of the debate criteria, and the use of polls to winnow the field, partially displaced more substantive discussions of concrete policies that candidates are proposing.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Polling effect
In terms of many GOP candidates, the use of polls to winnow the field was criticized, especially by candidates with relatively low-polling numbers in August, including Rick Santorum and Lindsey Graham, who both said through the media that their exclusion from the main debates could prevent them from being competitive in the primaries and caucuses.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Polling effect
Candidates ranked from 8th to 12th place in the polls prior to the August 2015 debate, which included Chris Christie, Rick Perry, and John Kasich, downplayed the importance of being invited to any specific debate by emphasizing that delegate selection in early states is more important. Christie and fellow one-time candidate Rand Paul both had made the point that the early debates would give candidates a chance to communicate policy ideas to voters, and would subsequently be helpful in giving voters the information needed to decide which candidate to support.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Polling effect
Some in the media questioned Donald Trump's seriousness as a candidate, and pondered as to whether or not he should be included in the debates.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Polling effect
Trump filed FEC paperwork to make his run official; however, despite doing well in the early polling which effectively guaranteed him an invitation to the Fox News and CNN debates, Trump expressed ambivalence about the value of the debates to his own campaign (saying he was not a debater and therefore did not know how well he would perform in one), and to the process in general (saying that politicians are always debating with little in the way of results).


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Logistics
With as many as 17 major candidates vying for the nomination, the prospect of including all the candidates in a debate presented logistical difficulties. For each of the debates held from August 2015 through January 2016, the sponsoring television network conducted both a debate broadcast in prime time preceded by another debate in the afternoon or early evening; the candidates who ranked higher in the polls were invited to the prime time debate, with lower-ranking candidates admitted to the earlier debate only. The earlier debates for the lower-ranked candidates were nicknamed the "undercard" debates or the "kids' table" debates.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, Ratings
The following table lists the ratings (number of estimated viewers) of the debates to date.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
The first debate was hosted by Fox News Channel, Facebook, and the Ohio Republican Party at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio – the same location as the future 2016 Republican National Convention. The two-hour debate invited the 10 highest-polling candidates, as measured by the average of the top five national polls selected by Fox. In addition, all other candidates who were "consistently being offered" as choices in national polls were invited to a one-hour debate earlier that same day.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
(Originally, the non-primetime debate had a minimum requirement that invitees were averaging at least 1% in Fox-recognized national polls, and was to be aired at noon for a total of two hours in duration.)


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
The two-tiered debate hosted by Fox News on the 6th was qualitatively different from the C-SPAN forum held on the 3rd, for at least three reasons: it was a debate rather than a forum, where candidates were allowed to challenge each other, not just speak one at a time sequentially; it was divided into two tiers based on national polling numbers, only a subset of the candidates were on-stage (during each of the two distinct Fox News airtimes); and finally, Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee were participants in the primetime tier, but did not appear at the C-SPAN forum.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
The candidates in the main debate were Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich. The moderators were Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. Seven candidates who did not qualify were invited to participate in the 5 p.m. forum; these were Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, and George Pataki; the moderators for this debate were Bill Hemmer and Martha McCallum.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
Because of a rule-change announced by FOX one week before the debate-invitations went out, Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore were allowed to participate at 5 p.m. despite averaging below 1% in the five selected polls. (Former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson was excluded from the 5 p.m. tier, along with other relatively unknown candidates who did not meet the updated invitation-criteria of "consistently being offered to respondents in major national polls as recognized by Fox News.") The five selected polls were conducted by Fox News, Bloomberg, CBS News, Monmouth University, and Quinnipiac University.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
In the main event, Trump was afforded the most time to speak at the debate by the Fox moderators (at 10 minutes, 32 seconds) followed by Bush (8:31), Huckabee (6:40), Cruz (6:39), Kasich (6:31), Carson (6:23), Rubio (6:22), Christie (6:10), Walker (5:51), and Paul (5:10). The debate itself was viewed by 24 million people at its peak, setting records for the most-watched presidential primary debate ever and the highest-rated non-sports telecast in cable television history.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
The two different debates received rather different analyses in terms of the performances of the candidates. In the lower tier debate with only 7 candidates, Carly Fiorina was overwhelmingly considered the best debater, while Perry and Jindal were also praised, and Gilmore, Graham, Pataki, and Santorum were criticized. In the primetime debate, frontrunner Donald Trump's overall performance was criticized as rude and erratic by many pundits, while others said his comments were popular and his criticisms were overdue, including his criticism of Bush's description of illegal immigration as an "act of love." Cruz, Rubio, Christie, and Huckabee received praise.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
Notable conflicts between candidates included Rand Paul vs. Christie over the NSA surveillance program, Paul vs. Trump on the latter's possible third-party run, Paul vs. Trump on healthcare, and Christie vs. Huckabee on the issue of welfare reform. Trump also clashed with two of the moderators – Kelly and Wallace – on the issue of sexism with Kelly, and the issue of illegal immigration with Wallace (specifically, Trump's claims that the Mexican government was deliberately sending criminals into America illegally).


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, Ohio
The lower tier debate was the first and only debate appearance of former Texas governor Rick Perry, who dropped out of the race less than a month later, after he failed to qualify for the second primetime debate and said that this was damaging to his fundraising abilities.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, California
The second debate took place at (and was co-sponsored by) the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, which previously hosted two of the Republican debates in 2008 – the first and penultimate ones. This 2015 debate was aired on CNN, and simulcast on the Salem Radio Network. Similar to the Fox News-sponsored debate in Cleveland, but with slightly different ranking-criteria, the debate was split into primetime and pre-primetime groups based on averaged polling numbers.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, California
The primetime debate was originally planned to include the candidates ranking in the top ten, as measured by nationwide polling performed by specific firms, averaged across polls that are released between July 16 and September 10; the rules were later changed to allow candidates placing in the top ten in polls from August 7 through September 10 to qualify as well.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, California
This change was made due to an unexpected scarcity of polls taken after the August 6 debate, which would otherwise have been particularly disadvantageous to Carly Fiorina, who had significantly increased her support in polls taken after that debate but who would otherwise have been kept out of the primetime debate due to her minimal support in the large number of polls taken before the August 6 debate.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, California
Eleven candidates participated in the prime time debate: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, and Scott Walker. The candidates in the undercard debate were Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham, Rick Santorum, and George Pataki. Rick Perry had been invited to the undercard debate but suspended his campaign on September 11, effectively ending his candidacy. Former governor Jim Gilmore did not qualify for either debate.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, California
The undercard broadcast took place at 3 pm PDT, while the main card broadcast took place at 5 pm PDT. The two-tiered CNN broadcasts were consecutive, with the primetime debate immediately following the second-tier broadcast. The moderator was Jake Tapper of CNN, with participation by Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The primetime debate, like the first on Fox News, was a massive ratings success with nearly 23 million viewers, roughly 1 million less than the previous debate, and setting the record for the highest-rated broadcast in CNN's history.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, California
The primary focus of the debate was on Carly Fiorina, the one and only candidate who rose from the "undercard" tier of the previous debate into the primetime debate this time around. After the debate, most analysts believed that she successfully solidified her newfound status as a top-tier candidate, and successfully defended herself against attacks by Donald Trump. Marco Rubio was also largely viewed as the other strong performer of the night, and both Fiorina's and Rubio's poll numbers began to increase significantly in the wake of this debate.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, California
Additional candidates who received praise included Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie, while frontrunner Donald Trump, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, and Ohio governor John Kasich were largely criticized. Notable exchanges in the debate were Trump vs Fiorina on the former's comments about her face and on each other's business records, Trump vs Paul on the formers insults, Trump vs Bush on immigration, Trump vs Bush on casino gambling in Florida, women's health issues, and foreign policy, as well as Christie and Bush against Paul on marijuana legalization. This was the second and final debate appearance by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who dropped out of the race five days later, saying that the subsequent decrease of his own poll numbers and fundraising were largely due to his two debate performances being largely panned by commentators.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, California
During the less formal section of the debate the candidates were asked what secret service nicknames they'd choose were they to become President of the United States. The candidates answered as follows; Jeb Bush: Eveready (a reference to Donald Trump's earlier "low-energy" criticism), Ben Carson: One Nation, Chris Christie: True Heart, Ted Cruz: Cohiba, Carly Fiorina: Secretariat, Mike Huckabee: Duck Hunter, John Kasich: Unit 2 (his wife is Unit 1), Rand Paul: Justice Never Sleeps (Tapper suggest it might be a mouthful), Marco Rubio: Gator, Donald Trump: Humble, and Scott Walker: Harley.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
The third debate was held on October 28 at the University of Colorado in Boulder, which is also one of the sponsors. CNBC stated that the debate would focus on the economy. The moderators were announced as John Harwood, Carl Quintanilla, and Becky Quick, with additional questions to be asked by Rick Santelli, Sharon Epperson, and Jim Cramer.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
On September 30, CNBC announced that all candidates with an average of 2.5% or better in polls conducted by NBC, Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, and Bloomberg released in the five weeks (from September 17 through October 21 inclusive) before the October 28 debate would be invited to participate in the primetime debate at 8 p.m. EDT. All other candidates receiving at least 1% in any one of the polls conducted by the six recognized firms would be invited to the undercard debate at 6 p.m. EDT.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
In response to the previous debate on CNN running over three hours in length, the top two highest-polling candidates – Donald Trump and Ben Carson – teamed up in a threatened boycott of the CNBC debate. They demanded that the debate be limited to no longer than two hours, and also that opening and closing statements be included in those two hours; otherwise, if these conditions were not met, both Trump and Carson would withdraw from the debate. On October 16, CNBC announced that it had accepted the demands of Trump and Carson, setting the two-hour maximum and allowing for opening and closing statements.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
On October 21, CNBC announced that 10 candidates (Bush, Carson, Christie, Cruz, Fiorina, Huckabee, Kasich, Paul, Rubio and Trump) would take the stage shortly after 8 p.m. EDT, with four candidates (Graham, Jindal, Santorum, and Pataki) on stage about two hours earlier. Whether Jindal would participate was unclear; he said on October 20 that he might skip the debate if the criteria for the main group was not changed. On October 27, Jindal's press secretary said he would participate: "We just thought about it and he's always been ready to debate at any time."


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
The primetime debate featured numerous clashes between the candidates and the moderators, and the moderators were  criticized – both by the candidates and by commentators in the aftermath – for perceived rudeness towards the candidates, asking questions that were perceived as biased. Cruz, Rubio, Christie, Huckabee, Trump, and Carson all criticized the moderators at some point or another, and often received the loudest applause as a result. The CNBC moderators were also criticized by some news outlets, such as The Daily Beast, with Bill Maher, Byron York, and Stuart Rothenberg also criticizing the moderators.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
Other news sources have come out in support of CNBC's vigorous vetting of the candidates, such as The Guardian. At Salon, Huffington Post Senior Media Editor Jack Mirkinson described CNBC's handling of the debate as "catastrophic", while feminist blogger and former John Edwards Campaign Blogmaster Amanda Marcotte described the questions as "substantive".


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
Many commentators considered the winners of the primetime debate to be Rubio, Cruz, and Christie, primarily for their attacks on the debate's moderator's questions. The two front-runners in the polls at the time, Trump and Carson, did not receive as much focus nor had as many memorable moments, but were still viewed as doing fairly well.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
Bush and Kasich were largely criticized for their performances, particularly when the former argued with Rubio over Rubio's attendance record as a Senator, and when the latter clashed with Trump over Kasich's record as Governor, and his sudden shift in debate strategy from passive to aggressive, which Trump said was simply being done in response to his falling poll numbers.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
On October 30, 2015, the RNC announced that NBC News would no longer host the February 26, 2016, debate in Houston. RNC chairman Reince Priebus showed concerns that an NBC-hosted debate could result in a "repeat" of the CNBC debate, as both are divisions of NBCUniversal, although NBC News is editorially separate from CNBC.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
Priebus explained that CNBC had conducted the October 28 debate in "bad faith", arguing that "while debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates' visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC's moderators engaged in a series of 'gotcha' questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates' policies and ideas."


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
As for the venue, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump complained about the heat in the arena made their sweating visible to the viewers. The Republicans then draft a list of demands including "The temperature in the auditorium must be below 67°F (19°C)."


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, November 10, 2015 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The fourth debate was held on November 10, 2015, at the Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, airing on the Fox Business Network and sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. This debate focused on jobs, taxes, and the general health of the U.S. economy, as well as on domestic and international policy issues. The moderators were Neil Cavuto,  Maria Bartiromo  and Gerard Baker.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, November 10, 2015 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
To participate in the main debate, a candidate needed to have an average of at least 2.5% in the four most recent recognized national polls conducted through November 4. Candidates who failed to reach that average but who scored at least 1% in any of those four polls were invited to the secondary debate, which was moderated by Sandra Smith, Trish Regan, and The Wall Street Journal′s Washington bureau chief, Gerald Seib.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, November 10, 2015 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The official debate lineup was unveiled on November 5. This lineup noticeably differed from previous lineups in several significant ways: For the first time in the debate season, there were fewer than ten candidates in the primetime lineup; that consists of eight candidates: Trump, Carson, Rubio, Cruz, Bush, Fiorina, Kasich, and Paul. Also, over half of the original set of lower-tier candidates polling less than 1% were excluded from the undercard debate due to failing to reach at least 1% in some polls, those being Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, November 10, 2015 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Thus, the lower-tier debate lineup instead featured Christie and Huckabee – both removed from the main stage for the first time – alongside previous lower-tier candidates Santorum and Jindal. Notable exchanges included Trump vs Kasich and Bush on immigration, Trump vs Bush on foreign policy, Fiorina vs Paul on Russia, and Rubio vs Paul on the formers tax plan as well as military spending. Cruz and Kasich also had an exchange on whether they would bail out the banks.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, November 10, 2015 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The undercard debate was the fourth and final debate appearance of Governor Bobby Jindal, who ended his campaign on November 17, stating "this is not my time."


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, December 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada
The fifth debate was held on December 15, 2015, at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the second debate to air on CNN, and was also broadcast by Salem Radio. The debate was moderated solely by Wolf Blitzer with Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt serving alongside as questioners.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, December 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada
The debate was split into primetime and pre-primetime groups based on averaged polling numbers; in order to participate in the main debate, candidates had to meet one of three criteria in polls conducted between October 29 and December 13 which were recognized by CNN—either an average of at least 3.5% nationally, or at least 4% in either Iowa or New Hampshire. The secondary debate featured candidates that had reached at least 1% in four separate national, Iowa, or New Hampshire polls that are recognized by CNN. Paul was included in the main debate after not qualifying under the original rules because he received 5% support in Iowa in a Fox News poll.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, December 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada
The debate lineup was announced on December 13 to include Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Carson, Bush, Fiorina, Christie, Paul, and Kasich in the primetime debate, and Huckabee, Santorum, Graham, and Pataki in the undercard debate. Commentators suggested that the key confrontation would be between Trump and Cruz, based on their respective polling in Iowa.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, December 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada
Eighteen million people watched the debate, making it the third-largest audience ever for a presidential primary debate. During the debate, the audible coughing was attributed to Ben Carson. His campaign admitted that they all got sick a month prior and Carson had kept the cough for weeks. The cough was "almost gone" and Carson was not really sick at the time. Notable exchanges included Trump vs Bush on foreign policy as well as the formers proposed Muslim ban, Paul vs Rubio on the NSA and immigration, as well as Cruz vs Rubio on the NSA metadata program, foreign policy, and immigration.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, December 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada
The undercard debate was the fourth and final debate appearance of Senator Lindsey Graham and former Governor George Pataki, who suspended their campaigns on December 21 and December 29, respectively.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 14, 2016 – North Charleston, South Carolina
On December 8, 2015, it was announced that Fox Business Network would host an additional debate two days after the State of the Union address. The debate was held in the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina. The anchor and managing editor of Business News, Neil Cavuto, and anchor and global markets editor, Maria Bartiromo, repeated their roles as moderators for the prime-time debate, which began at 9 p.m. EST. The earlier debate, which started at 6 p.m. EST, was again moderated by anchors Trish Regan and Sandra Smith.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 14, 2016 – North Charleston, South Carolina
On December 22, 2015, Fox Business Network announced that in order to qualify for the prime-time debate, candidates would have to either place in the top six nationally (based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by FOX News), place in the top five in Iowa (based on an average of the five most recent Iowa state polls recognized by FOX News), or place in the top five in New Hampshire (based on an average of the five most recent New Hampshire state polls recognized by FOX News). In order to qualify for the first debate, candidates must have registered at least 1% in one of the five most recent national polls.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 14, 2016 – North Charleston, South Carolina
Seven candidates were revealed to have been invited to the prime-time debate on January 11, 2016, namely Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump. At the debate, participants were introduced in order of their poll rankings.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 14, 2016 – North Charleston, South Carolina
Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum participated in the undercard debate. Rand Paul was invited, but said, "I won't participate in anything that's not first tier because we have a first tier campaign." Noteworthy exchanges included Rubio versus Christie on the latter's record, Trump versus Cruz on Cruz's eligibility and "New York Values", Trump vs Bush and Rubio on trade with China and versus Rubio on the former's tax plan as well as illegal immigration records.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 28, 2016 – Des Moines, Iowa
The seventh debate was held in Iowa, which holds the first caucuses, and was the second debate to air on Fox News Channel. As in Fox's first debate, the moderators were Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. It was the last debate before actual voting began with the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 28, 2016 – Des Moines, Iowa
The debate was, again, divided into undercard and primetime rounds; to qualify for the primetime debate, candidates must have, in polls recognized by FNC, either placed in the top six nationally based on an average of the five most recent national polls; place in the top five in Iowa, based on an average of the five most recent Iowa state polls, or place in the top five in New Hampshire, based on an average of the five most recent New Hampshire state polls. In order to qualify for the first debate, candidates must have registered at least one percent in one of the five most recent national polls.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 28, 2016 – Des Moines, Iowa
On January 26, 2016, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump were invited to the primetime debate. Trump, however, declined to participate due to prior confrontations with the network and moderator Megyn Kelly, and instead hosted a town hall with charitable proceeds going to veterans groups. Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum were invited to the undercard debate. The undercard debate was only the second of the 2016 cycle to which Gilmore was invited; he was also in the August 6, 2015, undercard debate, also hosted by Fox News.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 28, 2016 – Des Moines, Iowa
Immigration and foreign policy featured prominently in this debate, and many candidates used the opportunity to criticize the second-place Cruz, (Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, and Jeb Bush) who had also been subjected to attack ads in the weeks before Iowa from prominent Republican leaders. Christie took on Cruz on the issue of the NSA metadata program, and Bush took on both Cruz and Rubio on their senate records and also took on Rubio on his immigration record. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz had 2 exchanges: the 1st on the NSA and Audit the Fed, and the 2nd on immigration. In particular, Cruz and Rubio (the third-place candidate at this point in the race) attacked each other's immigration records.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, January 28, 2016 – Des Moines, Iowa
This was the final debate appearance of Fiorina, Gilmore, Huckabee, Paul, and Santorum. Huckabee suspended his campaign on February 1, while Paul and Santorum ended their presidential bids on February 3. Fiorina and Gilmore were excluded from the following debate, and suspended their campaigns on February 10 and 12, respectively.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 6, 2016 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
The eighth debate was held in New Hampshire, the first state to hold primaries, was organized by ABC News and the Independent Journal Review. It was scheduled to be held in the St Anselm's College Institute of Politics. The eighth debate was the first to not feature an undercard event for minor candidates. David Muir and Martha Raddatz were moderaters, along with WMUR political director Josh McElveen and Mary Katherine Ham.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 6, 2016 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
To participate in the debate, a candidate had to have either placed among the top three candidates in the popular vote of the Iowa caucus, or placed among the top six candidates in an average of New Hampshire or national polls recognized by ABC News. Only polls conducted no earlier than January 1 and released by February 4 were included in the averages.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 6, 2016 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
On February 4, 2016, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump were invited to the debate. Carly Fiorina and Jim Gilmore were not invited as they did not meet the criteria.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 6, 2016 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
The introduction of the candidates caused several mishaps, including Carson missing his introduction and Kasich's introduction being skipped by the announcers. During the debate, Rubio – who was perceived as gaining significant momentum after a close third-place finish in Iowa – faced attacks from Bush and particularly Christie, who criticized Rubio for repeating popular talking points rather than debating specifics. Rubio's poor response to Christie's criticisms led many to consider Rubio as the loser of the debate, with most of his post-Iowa momentum severely blunted by the performance.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 6, 2016 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
Conversely, Cruz faced attacks from Carson over allegations that Cruz's campaign, on the night of the Iowa caucuses, was spreading rumors that Carson had already dropped out of the race, so as to switch Carson voters to Cruz. There was also another clash between Trump and Bush over the issue of eminent domain, to the point where Trump was booed by the audience. Trump subsequently accused the audience of consisting mostly of Bush's donors and supporters.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 6, 2016 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
Despite Christie's perceived strong performance, this would ultimately be his final debate appearance, as the governor suspended his campaign four days later, after finishing 6th in New Hampshire.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 13, 2016 – Greenville, South Carolina
The ninth debate was held in another early primary state, South Carolina, and organized by CBS News. The debate was moderated by John Dickerson in the Peace Center in Greenville, started at 9 pm ET and went for 90 minutes. Major Garrett of CBS and Kimberley Strassel of WSJ also asked questions.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 13, 2016 – Greenville, South Carolina
To participate in the debate, a candidate had to have either (1) placed among the top five candidates in the popular vote of the New Hampshire primary, (2) placed among the top three candidates in the popular vote of the Iowa caucuses, or (3) be among the top five candidates in an average of national and South Carolina polls over the four weeks beginning January 15 (that are recognized by CBS) and have received at least 3% in Iowa or New Hampshire or the South Carolina or national polls. The day before the debate, Ben Carson was invited to join the other participants: Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 13, 2016 – Greenville, South Carolina
The debate was particularly combative, with Trump attacking Bush for his stances on illegal immigration, his defense of former president George W. Bush, and his record as governor. Bush also took on Kasich on the subject of Medicaid. Cruz had exchanges with Trump over Planned Parenthood and other issues. Cruz also reiterated comments made by Rubio on Univision and when the latter claimed he could not speak Spanish, Cruz retorted using the language and demonstrating that he was bilingual. This was the ninth and final debate appearance of Bush, who suspended his campaign on February 20.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 25, 2016 – Houston, Texas
After the caucus in Nevada, the tenth debate was held at the University of Houston in Houston and broadcast by CNN as its third of four debates, in conjunction with Telemundo. The debate aired five days before 14 states voted on Super Tuesday, March 1. While the debate was to be held in partnership with Telemundo's English-language counterpart NBC, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus announced on October 30, 2015, that it had suspended the partnership in response to CNBC's "bad faith" in handling the October 28, 2015, debate.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 25, 2016 – Houston, Texas
On January 18, 2016, the RNC announced that CNN would replace NBC News as the main host of the debate, in partnership with Telemundo and Salem Communications (CNN's conservative media partner). The debate was shifted a day earlier at the same time. National Review was disinvited by the Republican National Committee from co-hosting the debate over its criticism of GOP front-runner Donald Trump.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 25, 2016 – Houston, Texas
On February 19, the criteria for invitation to the debate was announced: in addition to having official statements of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and accepting the rules of the debate, candidates must have received at least 5% support in one of the first four election contests held in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. By these criteria, all five remaining candidates, Carson, Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, and Trump, qualified for invitation to the debate. This was the tenth and final debate appearance of Carson, who skipped the following debate on March 3, and dropped out of the race the following day.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, February 25, 2016 – Houston, Texas
Rubio and Cruz both were considered winners, while Trump struggled. Both attacked Trump on illegal immigration, Israel, his business record, religious liberty, Planned Parenthood, and healthcare. Trump, after criticizing Rubio for repeating himself in the New Hampshire debate, promptly repeated himself several times when talking about healthcare, which Rubio quickly pointed out, leading to almost a minute of applause. Cruz also attacked Trump on his record of giving to Democrats as well as the polls, and attacked Rubio on illegal immigration and his vote to confirm John Kerry as secretary of state.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, March 3, 2016 – Detroit, Michigan
The eleventh debate was held on March 3, 2016, at the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was the third debate to air on Fox News Channel. Special Report anchor Bret Baier, The Kelly File anchor Megyn Kelly and Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace served as moderators. It led into the Maine, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho, and Hawaii contests. Fox announced that in order for candidates to qualify, they must have at least 3 percent support in the five most recent national polls by March 1 at 5 pm.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, March 3, 2016 – Detroit, Michigan
Ben Carson said on March 2 he would not be attending the debate. The debate drew controversy for an allusion Trump made to his penis in response to Rubio's comment about the size of his hands. During the debate, Ted Cruz stated that Donald Trump supported Jimmy Carter and other Democrats for president.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, March 10, 2016 – Coral Gables, Florida
The twelfth debate was the fourth and final debate to air on CNN and led into the Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri, and Ohio primaries on March 15. The candidates debated at the University of Miami's BankUnited Center arena, moderated by Jake Tapper and questioned by CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash, Salem Radio Network talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, and The Washington Times contributor . The Washington Times cohosted the debate. The debate was originally scheduled considering the unlikelihood that a candidate would clinch the Republican nomination before March 15, due to the overall size of the field.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Presidential debates, March 10, 2016 – Coral Gables, Florida
On the day of the debate, CNN summarized the immediate stakes: "This debate comes just five days ahead of 'Super Tuesday 3', when more than 350 delegates are decided, including winner-take-all contests in Florida and Ohio. Both Trump and Rubio are predicting [a win in] Florida. For Trump, a win here would fuel his growing momentum and further grow his delegate lead; for Rubio, losing his home state could be the death knell for his campaign." This was the twelfth and final debate appearance of Rubio, who suspended his campaign on March 15. It was also the twelfth and final debate appearance of Cruz who suspended his campaign on May 3 and the twelfth and final debate appearance of Kasich who suspended his campaign on May 4.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Canceled debate, March 21, 2016 – Salt Lake City, Utah
A thirteenth debate was originally announced to take place at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah, airing on Fox News Channel, and moderated by Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, and Megyn Kelly to lead into the Arizona, Idaho, and Utah primaries. However, on March 16, 2016, Donald Trump announced that he would skip the debate because he was planning to give a "very major speech" at the AIPAC conference. He also said he had debated enough, with the same questions/answers.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Canceled debate, March 21, 2016 – Salt Lake City, Utah
Additionally, Kasich stated that he would only participate in the debate if Trump were in attendance, while Rubio suspended his campaign on March 15 following his loss in the Florida primaries, leaving only Ted Cruz. As a result, the RNC and Fox News Channel announced that the debate had been cancelled due to the lack of participants, stating that "obviously, there needs to be more than one participant".


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Canceled debate, March 21, 2016 – Salt Lake City, Utah
As most of the candidates were in Washington for the AIPAC conference, several news channels obtained interviews with the candidates, to air on the night of the cancelled debate instead. Both CNN and Fox News Channel aired interviews with the three remaining Republican candidates, while CNN also aired interviews with the two remaining Democratic candidates.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, August 3, 2015 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
The 2016 Voters First Presidential Forum moderator was Jack Heath of WGIR radio, who asked questions of each of the participating candidates based on a random draw. Candidates each had three opportunities to speak: two rounds of questions, and a closing statement. Topics of discussion during the forum were partially selected based on the results of an online voter survey. The facilities were provided by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and Political Library of St. Anselm College. The forum was organized in response to the top-ten invitation limitations placed by Fox News and CNN on their first televised debates (see descriptions below).


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, August 3, 2015 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
Eleven of the candidates were present in person; Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio participated in the forum via satellite to avoid missing a vote. Three major Republican candidates who did not participate were Donald Trump (who chose not to attend), Jim Gilmore (who missed the cutoff deadline) and Mike Huckabee (who was invited, but did not respond). Mark Everson did not receive an invitation, albeit after a "serious look".


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, August 3, 2015 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
The Voters First forum was broadcast nationally by C-SPAN as the originating source media entity, beginning at 6:30 p.m. EDT and lasting from 7 to 9 p.m.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, August 3, 2015 – Goffstown, New Hampshire
The event was also simulcast and/or co-sponsored by television stations KCRG-TV in Iowa, New England Cable News in the northeast, WBIN-TV in New Hampshire, WLTX-TV in South Carolina, radio stations New Hampshire Public Radio, WGIR in New Hampshire, iHeartRadio on the internet (C-SPAN is also offering an online version of the broadcast), and newspapers the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Iowa, the Union Leader in New Hampshire, and the Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina. There was a live audience, with tickets to the event awarded via a lottery.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, November 20, 2015 – Des Moines, Iowa
The Presidential Family Forum was held in the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Rick Santorum attended the forum hosted by evangelical Christian advocacy group The Family Leader. It was hosted by politician and political activist Bob Vander Plaats and moderated by political consultant and pollster Frank Luntz. Protesters interrupted the beginning of the event and were removed by police.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, December 3, 2015 – Washington, D.C.
The Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum was held in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center by the lobbyist group Republican Jewish Coalition. All candidates except Rand Paul attended the eight-hour-long forum.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, January 9, 2016 – Columbia, South Carolina
The Kemp Forum was held in the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center by the Jack Kemp Foundation. Bush, Carson, Christie, Huckabee, Kasich, and Rubio attended. Fiorina was scheduled to attend the forum, but missed her flight. The forum was moderated by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senator Tim Scott.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, February 17–18, 2016 – Greenville/Columbia, South Carolina
The CNN Republican town halls were held in Greenville, South Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, February 24, 2016 – Houston, Texas
Megyn Kelly hosted a two-hour town hall event on the Kelly File with Kasich, Cruz, Rubio, and Carson in attendance. Trump did not participate in the forum.


2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, Forums, March 29, 2016 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
CNN hosted a town hall moderated by Anderson Cooper airing from 8 to 11 pm EST. The three remaining candidates, Trump, Cruz, and Kasich, all participated in the town hall.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries
Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that were sent to the Republican National Convention. Businessman and reality television star Donald Trump won the Republican nomination for president of the United States.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries
A total of 17 major candidates entered the race. Prior to the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, this was the largest presidential primary field for any political party in American history. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas won the Iowa caucuses, and Trump won the New Hampshire primary and the South Carolina primary. From March 16, 2016, to May 3, 2016, only three candidates remained in the race: Trump, Cruz, and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Cruz won four Western contests and won in Wisconsin, keeping a reasonable path to denying Trump the nomination on first ballot with 1,237 delegates.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries
However, Trump scored landslide victories in New York and five northeastern states in April, before taking every delegate in the Indiana primary of May 3. Without any further chances of forcing a contested convention, Cruz suspended his campaign and Trump was declared the presumptive Republican nominee by Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on May 3. Kasich ended his campaign the following day. After winning the Washington primary and gaining support from unbound North Dakota delegates on May 26, Trump passed the threshold of 1,237 delegates required to guarantee his nomination.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries
By the end of the primary voting process, Trump had a commanding lead in the number of pledged delegates, ensuring a very smooth process for being declared the nominee. However, at 44.95%, Trump had the lowest percentage of the popular primary vote for a major party nominee since the 1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries
On July 19, 2016, Trump and his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, were officially nominated as the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates at the Republican National Convention. Trump and Pence went on to defeat the Democratic ticket of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine in the general election on November 8, 2016.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Candidates and results
Seventeen major candidates were listed in major independent nationwide polls and filed as candidates with the Federal Election Commission. A total of 2,472 delegates attended the 2016 Republican National Convention, and the winning candidate needed a simple majority of 1,237 votes to become the Republican nominee.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Candidates and results, Delegate breakdown
Fifty-six primary contests were conducted to choose 2,472 delegates. In 50 states and territories the delegates were allocated to candidates by popular vote either statewide or on the congressional district level and then elected according to state rules. In six states and territories, the first-instance popular vote did not allocate any delegates; they were elected later at local conventions and either bound to a candidate or uncommitted. Most delegates were elected as bound delegates, meaning that they were required to vote for a specific candidate on the first ballot at the national convention.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Candidates and results, Delegate breakdown
Some delegates attended the convention as unbound or uncommitted delegates, meaning that they were free to vote for anyone at the first ballot. These 130 uncommitted delegates included 18 unbound RNC delegates and 112 delegates that have been elected or allocated as uncommitted. Uncommitted delegates were still at liberty to express a preference for a candidate, although that preference was not binding.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Candidates and results, Delegate breakdown
Among the 901 delegates elected for candidates who later dropped out of the race, 155 were still bound to vote for their candidate on the first ballot and 34 were released according to the local rules of each state party. If no candidate were elected in the first round of voting, a progressively larger number of delegates would have been allowed to vote for the candidate of their choice. The voting rules on subsequent ballots were determined by individual states: most states released their delegates on the second round of voting, and only four states kept them bound on the third round and beyond.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Candidates and results, Delegate breakdown
This table shows how many bound delegates each candidate had won before suspending his or her campaign; it does not show how many unbound delegates pledged their support to any candidate during the primaries, nor does it show the expected result of the vote at the national convention. Although a state is considered won by a candidate if a plurality of the state's delegates are bound, RNC Rule 40(b) required a candidate to demonstrate support from a majority of delegates in eight states to be eligible as the nominee. Convention rules are based on delegate votes, not the popular vote.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Candidates and results, Delegate breakdown
In the context of Republican primaries, the term "states" refers collectively to the fifty states, the District of Columbia and the five inhabited territories (altogether 56 delegations) as specified in RNC Rule 1(b). In the following table, states and territories where the candidates achieved a majority of bound delegates are marked in bold. States and territories where a candidate won a majority of delegates but not a majority of bound delegates are marked in italics.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Candidates and results, Results by county popular vote
Donald Trump       Ted Cruz       John Kasich       Marco Rubio       Ben Carson     Tie       Uncommitted       No results (Colorado and North Dakota did not hold primaries/caucuses.)


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Background
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, lost the 2012 election to incumbent Democratic president Barack Obama. The Republican National Committee, believing that the long, drawn-out 2012 primary season had politically and personally damaged Romney, drafted plans to condense the 2016 primary season. As part of these plans, the 2016 Republican National Convention was scheduled for the relatively early date of July 18–21, 2016, the earliest date since Republicans nominated Thomas Dewey in June 1948.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Background
When John Kasich entered the race on July 21, 2015, the field reached 16 candidates, making it the largest presidential field in the history of the Republican Party (surpassing the 1948 primaries). With Jim Gilmore's announcement to enter the race for a second time on July 30, 2015, the field reached 17 candidates, becoming the largest presidential field in American history (surpassing the 16 candidates in the Democratic Party presidential primaries of 1972 and 1976).


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Background
In mid-December 2014, Jeb Bush—widely seen as a possible frontrunner for the nomination due to his relatively moderate stances, record as former governor of a crucial swing state, name recognition and access to high-paying donors—was the first candidate to form a political action committee (PAC) and an exploratory committee. Many other candidates followed suit. The first candidate to declare his candidacy was Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who was popular among grassroots conservatives due to his association with the Tea Party movement, and who also received early backing of several prominent Republican donors including Robert Mercer.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Background
The 2016 candidates were roughly divided into three camps, with grassroots conservatives represented by Cruz and Carson, the Christian right represented by Huckabee and Santorum, and moderates (or establishment) represented by Bush and Christie. Several - such as Rubio, Walker and Kasich - were seen as having political backgrounds that may be appealing to both conservatives and moderates.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Background
Additionally, not all of these candidates clearly toed the grassroots/establishment divide; for instance, Rubio and Cruz were both elected to the Senate in the early 2010s as members of the Tea Party movement, but by 2015 had been courting the support of prominent party elders, political operatives, and large donors with significant success. In contrast, only three of the candidates, Carson, Trump and Fiorina, were true non-establishment candidates in the sense that they had no formal political experience; though Fiorina is widely considered to have views in line with the establishment wing led by Bush and Christie. Some called the diversity of candidates representing different wings of the party symptomatic of a struggle for the future direction of the party.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Background
The field was noted for its diversity, and was even called the most diverse presidential field in American history. It included two Latinos (Cruz and Rubio), a woman (Fiorina), an Indian-American (Jindal), and an African-American (Carson). Five were the children of immigrants: Cruz (Cuban father), Jindal (Indian parents), Rubio (Cuban parents), Santorum (Italian father) and Trump (Scottish mother).


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
Widely viewed as a very open contest with no clear front-runner, potential candidates fluctuated in the polls for an extended period from late 2012 to the end of 2015. In the year prior to the election season, a total of 17 major candidates campaigned for the nomination, thus making it the single largest presidential primary field in American history at the time.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
However, by the time the primary season started in early 2016, four candidates had clearly emerged ahead of the rest of the field: Ohio Governor John Kasich, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and New York businessman Donald Trump. Trump maintained wide poll leads throughout 2015 and into 2016, primarily due to his brash and unapologetic style of speaking and campaigning. Trump emphasized a disregard for political correctness, as well as populist and nativist policies; he earned the support of working-class voters and voters without college educations, among other demographics.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
However, Trump's brash attitude and polarizing policy stances generated numerous controversies in the media, and many of the other candidates sought to become the "anti-Trump" candidate by condemning his rhetoric and policies. Senators Cruz and Rubio emphasized their youth in comparison to most other candidates and their possible appeal to Hispanic voters. Additionally, Ohio governor John Kasich, a moderate Republican, remained in the race for an extended period despite being viewed as having little to no chance of winning the nomination.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
Despite Trump's lead in most national polls, the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses were won by Cruz due to his support among grassroots conservatives. However, Trump rebounded with strong wins in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. On Super Tuesday, Trump expanded his lead by winning seven of the eleven states, while the Cruz campaign gained new energy with victories in Alaska, Oklahoma, and the significant stronghold of Cruz's home state Texas. Rubio maintained significant momentum with strong finishes in Iowa (third place), South Carolina (second place), and Nevada (second place), before finally claiming victory in Minnesota on Super Tuesday.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
Between Super Tuesday and the beginning of the "winner-take-all" primaries, Cruz stayed nearly even with Trump, winning four states to Trump's five; Rubio won several smaller contests such as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. In the first round of winner-take-all contests on March 15, Trump greatly expanded his lead by winning five of the six contests. After a significant loss to Trump in his home state of Florida, Rubio suspended his campaign that same day. Meanwhile, Kasich finally gained some momentum by winning his home state of Ohio.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
As the primary season entered the spring, the mostly-consolidated field resulted in a closing of the gap between Trump and Cruz, with Trump sweeping the South, the Northeast, and parts of the Midwest while Cruz performed strongly in the West and scored a surprise victory in Maine. Kasich, unable to win any other states besides Ohio, remained far behind in third place. After Cruz's upset win in Wisconsin, speculation began to arise that the convention would be a brokered one in which the establishment would choose Kasich or someone else, since both Trump and Cruz were not viewed favorably by the establishment.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
As April came to a close and Trump won a resounding victory in his home state of New York, both Cruz and Kasich were mathematically eliminated from winning the nomination without a brokered convention. Both men then formed an alliance to block Trump from winning the nomination, ahead of the "Acela primaries" of five Northeastern states on April 26. Subsequently, Trump swept all five states and greatly increased his delegate lead.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
In a final push to block Trump's path to the nomination, Cruz announced that one of the former candidates for the nomination, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, would be his running mate if he was the nominee. Nevertheless, after Trump won the Indiana primary on May 3, Cruz suspended his campaign, subsequently leading to Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus announcing Trump as the presumptive nominee. Kasich announced the suspension of his campaign the next day, leaving Trump as the only candidate left in the race.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Overview
Trump then went on to win all of the remaining primaries, sweeping the remainder of the West, Midwest and the entirety of the West Coast. With his victories in New Jersey and the remaining final states on June 7, not only did Trump officially surpass the necessary number of bound delegates, but he also broke the 2000 record of 12,034,676 popular votes received by the winner of the Republican presidential primaries, with over 14 million votes.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, 2012–2014: fluctuating polls
After Romney's unsuccessful 2012 campaign, the potential 2016 field was left without a clear future nominee, similar to that of 2008. Different speculations began rising from all sides of the right-leaning political spectrum as to who would make the best possible nominee: One faction of candidates included young freshmen senators, some with alliances to the Tea Party movement, such as Cruz, Paul, and Rubio, who in particular was the focus of attention immediately following 2012. In most national polls from late-2012 to mid-2013, Rubio was leading due to being young, articulate, having a broad appeal among conservatives and moderates and also for his Latino heritage and continued efforts on immigration reform, which many viewed as possible tools to draw Hispanic voters to the GOP.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, 2012–2014: fluctuating polls
However, another narrative for the nomination, similar to that which drove Romney's 2012 campaign, was that the nominee needed to be a governor in a traditionally Democratic or swing state, with a proven record that would stand as proof that such a governor could be president as well. The possible candidates that fit this criteria included Bush, Gilmore, Kasich, Pataki, Walker and Christie, who in particular had been rising in popularity due to his loud and blunt manner of speaking at public events, championed by some as challenging conventional political rhetoric.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, 2012–2014: fluctuating polls
With his record as governor of New Jersey, a heavily Democratic state, factored in, Christie overtook Rubio in the polls from mid-2013 up until early 2014, when the "Bridgegate" scandal was first revealed and started to damage Christie's reputation and poll standing. Although he was later cleared of personal responsibility in the subsequent investigation, Christie never regained frontrunner status.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, 2012–2014: fluctuating polls
After Christie's fall, the polls fluctuated from January to November 2014. Candidates who often performed well included Rand Paul, who won CPAC straw polls in 2013, 2014 and 2015, Wisconsin congressman and 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (the eventual House speaker) and former candidates such as former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and then-governor of Texas Rick Perry, further reflecting the uncertainty of the upcoming race for the nomination.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, April 2014 – January 2015: Jeb Bush leading the polls
In April 2014, Robert Costa and Philip Rucker of The Washington Post reported that the period of networking and relationship-building that they dubbed the "credentials caucus" had begun, with prospective candidates "quietly studying up on issues and cultivating ties to pundits and luminaries from previous administrations".


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, April 2014 – January 2015: Jeb Bush leading the polls
Though Bush often polled in the low double digits, he was considered a prominent candidate due to his high fundraising ability, record as governor of Florida (a crucial swing state) and apparent electability. By November 2014, Bush had finally solidified his lead in the polls. Around this time there were talks of the possibility of Romney making a third run for the presidency. During this period from November 2014 until late January 2015, the speculation fueled Romney's rise in many national polls as well, challenging Bush. Although Romney admitted he was entertaining the idea after initially declining, he ultimately reaffirmed his decision not to run on January 30, 2015.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, April 2014 – January 2015: Jeb Bush leading the polls
However, by the end of February, another challenger rose to match Bush in the polls: Walker, who often touted his record as governor in a traditionally Democratic state, particularly noting his victory in a recall election in 2012 (the first governor in American history to do so), combined with his reelection in 2014. Walker and Bush balanced out in the polls from late February until about mid-June, at which point Trump entered the race. Walker's challenge to Bush also allowed other candidates to briefly resurge in some polls from late April up until mid-June, including former top performers Rubio, Paul and Huckabee, in addition to several newcomers to the top tier of polling, including Cruz and Carson.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Mid-2015: Donald Trump and the rise of the outsiders
Shortly after Trump announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015, many pundits noted his uniquely outspoken nature, blunt language and rhetoric, often directly contradicting traditional political candidates. This style was seen as resonating strongly with potential Republican primary voters and Trump began to rise in the polls. After a few weeks of briefly matching Bush, Trump surged into first place in all major national polls by mid-July, which he continued to lead consistently until November. Trump also polled well in the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, often leading or coming in second in those states.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Mid-2015: Donald Trump and the rise of the outsiders
With the surge of Trump, a man who had never held political office, the general focus began to shift over to other non-politician candidates, commonly known as "outsiders" and the other two outsiders in the field quickly rose in the polls as well in the wake of the first two debates: Carson, who rose into second place after a well-received performance in the first debate and Fiorina, who rose into the top three after her performance in the second debate.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Mid-2015: Donald Trump and the rise of the outsiders
The rising popularity of non-politician outsiders shocked many political analysts, and fueled a new conversation about how those with no political experience or prior runs for office could appeal more to potential primary voters than career politicians and what it means for the future of the Republican party and American politics in general. Trump used ideas of populism to persuade the  average American throughout the election process. In mid-September, the first two major candidates dropped out of the race.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Mid-2015: Donald Trump and the rise of the outsiders
Perry suspended his campaign on September 11, 2015, citing his failure to qualify for the primetime debates, his subsequent failure to raise a significant amount of money and his indictment as reasons. Ten days later, on September 21, 2015, Walker suspended his campaign mainly due to his own poll numbers dropping after two lackluster debate performances.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, End of 2015: the field stabilizes, six candidates gain traction
By the end of September, most polling averages indicated that the field was finally stabilizing in terms of public opinion and six candidates in particular were gaining traction and pulling away from the rest of the field by considerable margins. Polling averages indicated the top six as Trump, Carson, Rubio, Fiorina, Bush and Cruz. Trump and Carson were consistently first and second, respectively; Fiorina was initially in third place before being surpassed by Rubio; while Bush and Cruz remained in fifth and sixth place, respectively.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, End of 2015: the field stabilizes, six candidates gain traction
The other candidates who had been in the top ten of polling—Christie, Huckabee, Paul and Kasich—all leveled out at roughly 3% or less, while the five remaining candidates outside the top ten—Santorum, Jindal, Pataki, Graham and Gilmore—were consistently polling below 1%. By the third debate in late October, Bush and Fiorina's numbers were also beginning to fade, while Cruz was on the rise and began coming in fourth by most poll averages.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, End of 2015: the field stabilizes, six candidates gain traction
The third debate only solidified these numbers: Bush and Fiorina remained in low digits as both were considered lackluster, while Cruz was widely held as the winner and rose even further. Throughout this period, both Trump and Carson had pulled well ahead of the rest of the field and with Trump often registering in the low 30s and high 20s and Carson in the low 20s, the two of them combined often made up well over 50% of the electorate in a vast majority of national polls. Later in October and in early November, Carson began to match even with Trump by most polling averages, rising into the mid 20s and often finishing either just behind or just ahead of Trump.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, End of 2015: the field stabilizes, six candidates gain traction
By October, with the polls reflecting a field that seemed to be stabilizing, most commentators began to claim that the field had already established who the final four candidates—those who were in the race for the long-term and had the best chance of actually becoming the nominee—would be.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, End of 2015: the field stabilizes, six candidates gain traction
The four were listed as being Trump, Carson, Rubio, and Cruz: Trump and Carson for their appeal as outsiders, as well as their opposite personalities—with Trump's blunt nature and tough foreign policy stances, against Carson's soft-spoken nature and personal favorability—Rubio for his appeal to Hispanics and his stance on such issues as immigration reform, combined with strong debate performances and significant donor backing and Cruz for his appeal to Tea Party and Christian Conservative voters, which was seen as possibly having a strong impact in the southern states.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, End of 2015: the field stabilizes, six candidates gain traction
On November 17, 2015, Jindal became the third major Republican candidate to drop out. The November 2015 Paris attacks, which killed 130 people days before Jindal dropped out, were widely seen as having a significant impact on the 2016 presidential race, particularly on the Republican side. The attacks were seen as boosting the campaigns of those with tough stances on immigration like Trump and Cruz, as well as the foreign policy hawks like Rubio. Possibly as a result, Carson—who had previously been perceived as uninformed and relatively inarticulate on foreign policy—began to suffer in the polls, with Trump once again solidifying a double-digit lead over everyone else, while Rubio and Cruz began to steadily rise as Carson's numbers declined.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, End of 2015: the field stabilizes, six candidates gain traction
By December, Cruz had overtaken Carson by solidifying a base of support among Christian conservatives and averaged national polling of 18%, second only to Trump. The non-interventionist Paul still failed to make traction at this juncture, while Carson fell down to about 10%, roughly even with Rubio. On December 15, 2015, there was another presidential debate, which saw no major changes in the perceptions of the candidates. On December 21, 2015, the same day as the deadline to withdraw from the ballot in his home state of South Carolina, Graham suspended his campaign. Eight days later, on December 29, Pataki, who was struggling to poll above the margin of error, suspended his campaign as well.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, January 2016: the road to the early primaries
2016 dawned with the several-month-long truce between Trump and Cruz being broken. Cruz accused Trump of not being a consistent conservative or an ethical businessman, while Trump questioned the Canadian-born Cruz's constitutional eligibility to be president—candidates have to be natural-born U.S. citizens to be eligible to be president—while noting Cruz's past calls for immigration reform. This occurred as Trump and Cruz were vying for supremacy at the top of Iowa polls, in addition to both being the top two candidates in all national polls, ahead of the rest of the field by significant margins.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, January 2016: the road to the early primaries
In the closing weeks before Iowa, Trump and Cruz ran dueling television commercials, each attacking the other's record. Meanwhile, there was conflict between "establishment" candidates Rubio, Christie, Bush and Kasich, largely due to a media-reinforced belief that only a single establishment candidate could remain in the race past the early primaries. The establishment candidates staked their bids on strong showings in New Hampshire and both Christie and Kasich saw upticks in their polling in the weeks before the primary. Both the Trump-Cruz conflict and the squabbling between establishment candidates was evident at the Republican debate on January 14.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, January 2016: the road to the early primaries
The Republican debate of January 28, devoid of Trump due to priorities and conflicts with moderator Megyn Kelly after the debate in August, was the candidates' last shot at honing their message before the Iowa caucuses. Immigration and foreign policy featured prominently in this debate and many candidates used the opportunity of a "Trump-less debate" to criticize the second-place Cruz, who was also being heavily criticized by prominent Republican leaders in the weeks before Iowa.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, February 2016: early primaries
In the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, Cruz won a narrow victory over Trump and Rubio. Following poor performances in Iowa, three candidates suspended their campaigns: Huckabee—the winner of the caucuses in 2008—Santorum—the winner of the caucuses in 2012—and Paul, whose father performed very well in the 2008 and 2012 caucuses. This caused the field to narrow to nine.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, February 2016: early primaries
After coming third in the Iowa caucuses, the media quickly painted Rubio as the candidate most likely to pick up the establishment mantle and ride it to the nomination following a strong performance in New Hampshire, much as McCain and Romney had done in 2008 and 2012, respectively, before both ultimately lost the general election to Obama. Rubio used this narrative to pick up a number of endorsements in the days following the Iowa caucuses. However, in the New Hampshire debate of February 6, 2016, Rubio repeated a talking point four times almost verbatim during an exchange with Christie, which led to sharp criticism of his performance in the aftermath and the beginning of the end of Rubio's campaign.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, February 2016: early primaries
In the New Hampshire primary, Trump scored a decisive victory over the rest of the field, winning the primary with 35% of the vote. Kasich, who had held over 100 town halls in the state, finished second in a surprise to many in the media. Cruz coming in third in the contest was also a shock to many, while Rubio slipped to fifth, behind Trump, Kasich, Cruz and Bush, whose campaign appeared to be revitalized following several months of apparent stagnation. After coming in seventh place in both Iowa and New Hampshire, Fiorina suspended her campaign on February 10, 2016.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, February 2016: early primaries
Later that same day, Christie, whose campaign was staked almost entirely on getting a strong showing in New Hampshire, suspended his campaign after coming in sixth in New Hampshire, failing to reach the minimum 10% vote threshold required to be allocated delegates from the state and qualifying for the next debate on CBS. Later that week, Jim Gilmore, who had failed to gain traction, win delegates or be invited to most of the debates, suspended his campaign, narrowing the field to six.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, February 2016: early primaries
The third contest was in South Carolina. Prior to the primary, Rubio picked up the key endorsement of Governor Nikki Haley, a feat seen as renewing his momentum after a disappointing finish in New Hampshire. Exit polling showed that 46% of voters had decided the week before the primary, and that the majority of these votes went to Rubio. When the votes were counted, Trump again won by double digits, garnering 33% of the vote, ahead of Rubio with 22%, who edged out Cruz for second-place by 0.2%. Since Trump carried the vote both statewide and in each congressional district, his result netted him all 50 delegates available in the state. Following disappointing finishes in the first three contests despite outspending his competitors, Bush suspended his campaign on February 20.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, February 2016: early primaries
Three days following the South Carolina primary, Trump won the Nevada caucuses, winning with 46% of the vote with Rubio in a distant second with 24% and Cruz slightly further behind with 21%.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, March 1, 2016: Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday voting, after the early voting in February, decided nearly half of the delegate votes needed to achieve the 1,237 votes to win the nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention—595 delegates at stake, to be exact. Super Tuesday holds the primary voting for 11 states in the primary election process. North Dakota held the last caucus on Super Tuesday, but there was no presidential straw poll and all the delegates elected later at its convention in April were unbound. Wyoming took a straw poll, but it was non-binding and no delegates were allocated on Super Tuesday. Leading up to Super Tuesday, a debate between the remaining five candidates took place in Houston on February 25, 2016. Political rhetoric and charges heated up with Cruz and Rubio teaming up to attack Trump.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, March 1, 2016: Super Tuesday
Trump won the contests in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia, while Cruz netted a strong victory in his home state of Texas and added victories in Oklahoma and Alaska. Rubio won his first contest in the Minnesota Republican Caucus and finished a strong second in Virginia. Kasich won no contests, but he almost won in Vermont and finished second in Massachusetts. Carson did not win or place in any contest, netted only three delegates and though he initially expressed an intent to stay in the race, began showing signs of withdrawing in the days following Super Tuesday; he ultimately suspended his campaign on March 4, 2016.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Early March 2016: between Super Tuesdays
After Super Tuesday voting, but before winner-take-all voting was to begin, nine states, two territories and Washington, D.C. held their primaries and caucuses. During this period, 377 delegates were at stake. On March 3, 2016, the day before Carson dropped out of the race, Romney criticized Trump in a heavily publicized speech. Later that day, there was another GOP debate, which again featured Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Early March 2016: between Super Tuesdays
Carson did not participate in the debate, as he announced the suspension of his campaign the next day, narrowing the field to four; he subsequently endorsed Trump on March 10, 2016, the day after Fiorina endorsed Cruz. Meanwhile, as the prospect of a Trump nomination became more imminent, establishment Republicans pressured Romney or House Speaker Paul Ryan to enter the race; Romney had already decided not to enter the race on January 30, 2015, while Ryan announced he would not enter on April 13, 2016.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Early March 2016: between Super Tuesdays
On March 5, Cruz won the Kansas and Maine caucuses by comfortable margins. Trump narrowly won the Kentucky caucus and the Louisiana primary. Rubio and Kasich did not finish first or second on any primaries on "Super Saturday". The following day, the first of the 2016 primaries to be held in a U.S. territory went to Rubio, who won all of Puerto Rico's 23 delegates. On March 8, Trump won in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii, while Cruz took the Idaho Republican Primary, and Rubio missed delegate thresholds in Michigan, Mississippi and Idaho, finishing the night with only a single delegate. Despite some favorable polling in Michigan, Kasich did not win any primaries, but he still picked up 17 delegates. Neither Rubio nor Kasich finished first or second in any primaries held that day.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Early March 2016: between Super Tuesdays
In the Virgin Islands caucuses on March 10, a slate composed wholly of uncommitted delegates was initially elected. However, the entire slate was later disqualified by the territorial party and was replaced by the elected alternates – two uncommitted, two for Rubio and one each for Cruz and Trump. The dispute later went to court. Also on March 10, there was a debate in Florida between the four surviving candidates, which was conducted in a more civil tone than prior debates.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Early March 2016: between Super Tuesdays
On March 12, the Guam caucuses endorsed eight uncommitted delegates and one unbound Cruz-supporting delegate. Rubio won his final contest in D.C. and 9 delegates went to Cruz in the Wyoming county conventions. Rubio and Trump both earned one delegate and another was elected as uncommitted.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Early March 2016: between Super Tuesdays
* Virgin Islands results do not take account of the later disqualification of delegates. Accounting for the disqualified delegates, the results were as follows: Uncommitted 36%, Cruz 22%, Rubio 18%, Carson 12%, Trump 12%. † Delegate totals are given in Guam as no tally of the popular vote has been released and one delegate was elected by acclamation. ‡Wyoming held county conventions with no statewide popular vote; percentages represent the vote of county delegates.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, March 15, 2016: Super Tuesday II
March 15 featured winner-take-all primaries in the delegate-rich states of Florida—Rubio's home state—and Ohio—Kasich's home state. There were also contests in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and the Northern Mariana Islands, totaling 367 delegates. It was widely seen as a very important day in the presidential race because of the large number of winner-take-all delegates at stake. In the days leading up to Florida, the remaining candidates announced prominent endorsements and Trump and Rubio in particular spent millions on television advertisements assailing the other in Florida.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, March 15, 2016: Super Tuesday II
The level of protest and violence at Trump rallies meanwhile became an object of criticism by other candidates; one such incident led to the cancellation of a Trump event in Chicago on March 13, 2016. On March 11, 2016, in an effort to stop Trump, Rubio told his supporters in Ohio to vote for Kasich, while Kasich refused to tell his Florida supporters to help Rubio, with a campaign spokesperson later quoted as saying: "We were going to win Ohio anyway even without his help, just as he's going to lose Florida to Trump without ours."


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, March 15, 2016: Super Tuesday II
The Northern Mariana Islands caucuses were the first contest to close on March 15, with Trump taking 73% of the vote and collecting all nine delegates. In Florida, Trump netted the biggest prize of the night, handily defeating Rubio in Rubio's home state. Trump added to that wins in North Carolina, Illinois and Missouri. Soon after the announcement of his loss in Florida, Rubio suspended his campaign. Kasich got on the board for the first time, winning his home state of Ohio to stave off elimination.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, March 15, 2016: Super Tuesday II
Kasich's victory in Ohio meant that the 2016 Republican primaries were the first since 1968 (and the first in which every state held a contest) in which more than three candidates won at least one state (though in 2012 three candidates (Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich) won states and a fourth (Ron Paul) won a territory (Virgin Islands)) while Democratic primaries have historically been more divided; examples are the Democratic primaries in 1968 (five candidates won states), 1972 (seven), 1976 (six), 1988 (five), 1992 (five), and 2004 (four). The election in Missouri was very close, with Trump beating Cruz by fewer than 2,000 votes (0.21%); Cruz could have contested the outcome because the difference was less than 0.5%, but chose not to, thereby giving the 12 statewide delegates to Trump and 37 overall out of the 52.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
Seven states and one territory voted between March 22 and April 19, 2016, totaling 315 delegates with New York the largest (winner-take-most, 95), followed by Arizona (winner-take-all, 58).


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
The final debate between the candidates, which had been scheduled to take place on March 21, 2016, in Salt Lake City, was cancelled after Trump and Kasich withdrew from the event. Trump had initially announced that he would be absent as there had been enough debates; Kasich subsequently stated that he would not attend a debate without Trump.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
On March 22, with concerns about the border, immigration and national security at the fore, Trump won all 58 delegates in Arizona. However, in Utah, Cruz garnered 69% of the vote, triggering the 50% rule to take all 40 delegates, buoyed by anti-Trump sentiment among many Mormons. All of American Samoa's delegates were uncommitted. After Trump was declared the presumptive nominee, all of the American Samoa delegates committed to him. American Samoa and Utah were the last caucuses of the 2016 Republican primary season.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
As a Trump nomination became even more likely, the Club for Growth and other backers of the Stop Trump movement began adopting increasingly drastic strategies to derail his nomination, including all-out opposition to him in Wisconsin, seen as one opportunity to deny him the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Trump stated that he foresaw the outbreak of riots if he were denied the nomination at the convention. Despite often being viewed as anathema to the establishment, Cruz began picking up endorsements of establishment figures dismayed by the prospect of a Trump nomination, including that of Romney just before the Utah primary, Bush on March 23, 2016, and Walker on March 29, 2016.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
Toward the end of March, the competition between the three remaining candidates grew even fiercer. The increasingly acrimonious back-and-forth between Cruz and Trump took a new turn after the National Enquirer accused Cruz of being involved in five extramarital affairs – claims Cruz denied, accusing Trump of planting the claim, but other sources linked it to Rubio's suspended campaign. On March 29, the same day Walker endorsed Cruz, at a GOP town hall event hosted by CNN, all three remaining Republican candidates distanced themselves from the vow they had taken in September to support their party's eventual nominee. Referring to the pledge, Kasich stated, "all of us shouldn't even have answered that question".


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
April 3 had a North Dakota convention where Cruz gained support of eight delegates and Trump got one. Cruz later got six extra delegates committed to him. After Cruz dropped out, three delegates switched their support to Trump. The 13 uncommitted delegates backed Trump, giving him the support of 17 delegates and a majority. On April 5, buoyed by support from Walker and the state's talk and national radio hosts, Cruz won the statewide contests by a 48–35% margin and six congressional districts at the Wisconsin primary for 36 delegates. Trump won two congressional districts for six delegates.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
Following the Wisconsin primary, the three candidates moved on to Trump's home state of New York for its April 19 primary. Trump and Kasich teamed up to assail Cruz for his earlier criticism of Trump's "New York values", while Cruz reiterated his claim that Trump has an inconsistent conservative record and stated that "the only reason Kasich is attacking me now is because Kasich is afraid of going against Trump if I dropped out." Trump also received the support of former New York mayor and 2008 presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani during the lead-up to the New York primary.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
On April 9, 2016, Cruz won the Colorado delegates after taking a solid majority, the state's four uncommitted delegates declaring support for Cruz, bringing his total delegate count in Colorado to 34. On April 16, 2016, Cruz won all 14 at-large delegates in the Wyoming state convention. He also received the support of RNC Committeewoman Marti Halverson, one of the 3 RNC delegates to the convention.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
On April 19, Trump won New York with 59% of the vote, taking 89 of its 95 delegates. Kasich was a distant second with 25% of the vote, taking the other six delegates. Cruz was completely shut-out from receiving any New York delegates, coming in third place with only 15% of the vote, as the threshold for obtaining any delegates was 20%. Following the New York primary, Cruz was mathematically eliminated from reaching the majority of 1,237 delegates to earn the nomination on the first ballot, as he needed 678 more while only 674 were available.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, Late March – April 2016: a three-candidate race
* The delegate count is given for American Samoa and North Dakota as no tally of the vote has been released. All delegates from American Samoa are unpledged. All delegates from North Dakota are unbound but some have declared support (committed to) for a candidate (they can still change their minds). #The delegate count from Colorado and Wyoming is given because there is no tally for popular vote. These delegates, however, can choose to be bound to a candidate or to be left uncommitted. They indicated this when they filed to run for a delegate spot.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, April 26, 2016: Acela primary
On April 26, 2016, five Northeastern primaries were contested—Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island—and were collectively termed the "Amtrak" or "Acela primary" in reference to the Acela Express, which runs through the area. All five primaries were won by Trump by overwhelming margins between 29% and 41%; Trump received over 54% of the vote in all five. He claimed all the delegates available in Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland, as well as all 17 pledged delegates in Pennsylvania.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, April 26, 2016: Acela primary
Pennsylvania also elected 54 unpledged delegates and both the Trump campaign and The Washington Post estimated that Trump would win the support of at least 39 of the Keystone State's 54 unpledged delegates. Only in Rhode Island, where delegates were allocated proportionally, did Kasich (5) or Cruz (2) win any pledged delegates. Trump attained 12 of the 19 there and 111 of the 118 by the end of the night. The night was also notable as Trump cleared 10 million votes, surpassing the vote total attained by McCain and Romney in 2008 and 2012 respectively.


2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Timeline of the race, April 26, 2016: Acela primary
The two aforementioned contests were won with the candidate receiving a majority of the popular vote nationwide in both 2008 and 2012. The next day, Trump received the support of 31 unbound delegates from Pennsylvania, while Cruz nabbed four of them, Kasich three, and five remained uncommitted. On April 28, 2016, a Trump rally in Costa Mesa, California, attracted protests that turned violent, with approximately twenty people arrested and a police car vandalized. On April 29, the Trump campaign declared that they had accumulated 1,001 delegates, only 236 from the 1,237 necessary for the nomination.