The path for the GOP presidential nomination is clear for Donald Trump — and now Iowa Republicans are planning their next move.
Jeff Kaufmann, the chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, said the party will back Trump as the GOP nominee.
“I recognize that we have some people with a very strong skepticism of a Trump presidency, and I see that as a challenge,” Kaufmann told the Des Moines Register. “But I think it’s a challenge where we have facts and where we have momentum on our side.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the last candidate standing between GOP front-runner Trump and the nomination, ended his campaign Wednesday afternoon.
“I have always said that the Lord has a purpose for me as he has for everyone,” Kasich said in Columbus, Ohio. “And as I suspend my campaign today, I have renewed faith, deeper faith, that the Lord will show me the way forward and fulfill the purpose of my life.”
Kasich won only his home state of Ohio during the campaign.
The announcement came a day after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz suspended his campaign following a loss in the Indiana primary, which solidified Trump’s path to victory.
Though Cruz eventually had the most votes on Iowa caucus night, several “establishment” Republican leaders opposed the Texas senator, including Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
Over the past couple of weeks, Cruz was preparing to dominate the upcoming primaries, including Indiana, in an attempt to force a contested convention. In addition, staff stayed in states, such as Iowa, to recruit national delegates who would vote for Cruz if there were more than one round of voting at the national convention.
In the GOP District Conventions on April 9, Cruz supporters snagged 11 of the 12 delegates that would go to the national convention in Cleveland on July 18–21.
Karen Fesler, a local Republican activist, said that though Trump was not the candidate she caucused for, she will vote for him come November.
“I’m not going to say I’m excited or enthusiastic about Donald Trump,” Fesler said. “I’ve always said I was going to vote for the Republican nominee, and I think Hillary Clinton would give us a third term of Barack Obama.”
When asked whether she thinks Republicans in Iowa will unite and vote for Trump, Fesler said it’s up to the voters.
“It’s up to Republicans to decide if they’re going to unite against Hillary Clinton,” said Fesler, who previously held a position on former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign and helped pave the way to his caucus victory in 2012.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who was elected as a delegate for the national convention, said with Trump as the presumptive nominee, it allows the party to focus on the general election in November.
Miller-Meeks, who ran in the 2nd Congressional District against Rep. Dave Loebsack three times and lost each time, said she thinks there are some voters who are happy with Trump as the only candidate left, but there are some who may not be.
“There are six months for people to focus on now who the opposition is, which is in all likelihood Hillary Clinton,” Miller-Meeks said. “Instead of ‘Never Trump,’ it will be #NeverHillary.”