HILLARY, DONALD TRUMP OPPONENTS

By Jordyn Grzelewski, Kalea Hall | March 16, 2016 at 12:01a.m.

Staff/wire report

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County Republican Party Chairman Mark Munroe was shell-shocked by the end of Tuesday night.

When all of the primary election votes were in, nearly half of them were on Republican ballots.

“Do you realize how significant this is?” Munroe said. “This is a tsunami in Mahoning County politics.”

The fever for Republicans was felt elsewhere in the United States, too. Donald Trump strengthened his hand in the Republican race with a big win in Florida but fell in Ohio to Gov. John Kasich.

“I have to thank the people of the great state of Ohio. I love you,” Kasich said.

Trump also picked up wins in North Carolina and Illinois, and was locked in a close race with U.S. Ted Cruz in Missouri at deadline.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton triumphed Tuesday in the Florida, Ohio, Illinois and North Carolina presidential primaries, putting her in a commanding position to become the first woman in U.S. history to win a major party nomination. Her rival, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, was leading in Missouri at deadline.

Mahoning County had a 44 percent voter turnout with 70,927 voting on Tuesday out of 161,009 registered voters.

Trumbull County had a 46 percent voter turnout with 63,545 voting out of 137,006 registered voters.

Columbiana County had a 42 percent voter turnout with 27,302 voting out of 63,705 registered voters.

Locally, Clinton was the top Democratic vote-getter for Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. In Mahoning, Clinton took 59 percent of the vote while Sanders took 39 percent. In Trumbull, Clinton took 53 percent of the vote while Sanders took 44 percent. And in Columbiana, Clinton took 52 percent of the vote compared with the 45 percent for Sanders.

“Hillary has a relationship here,” said David Betras, Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman. “She has been here. She knows a lot of our people.”

Betras, a delegate for Clinton, knew that she would win Mahoning County.

“I didn’t think she would win the state as much as she did,” Betras said.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio ended his once-promising campaign after his devastating home-state loss, so the GOP primary is now down to three candidates: Trump, Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

The billionaire businessman told a victory rally, “This was an amazing night.”

Trump is the only Republican candidate with a realistic path to the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the July convention. But his loss in Ohio kept hope alive for mainstream Republicans dismayed by his candidacy and suggesting the real estate mogul can still be stopped in a convention fight.

Trump led Republican votes in the Mahoning Valley. In Mahoning County, Trump took 50 percent of the vote and Kasich took 37 percent. In Trumbull, Trump took 52 percent of the vote and Kasich took 34 percent. In Columbiana, Trump took 46 percent of the vote and 37 percent went to Kasich.

“This county has been hurt economically,” said Dave Johnson, Columbiana County Republican chairman. “Unemployment is higher than in most parts of the state. I don’t know if Trump is speaking more to that.”

Although he was unsure of the reason for the high Trump support for Trump exists in the county, he was “very pleased” Kasich took Ohio.

“I think his positive message resonated with the people of Ohio,” Johnson said. “I have admired his style of leadership here in Ohio.”

Munroe was also pleased to see Kasich take the state, calling it a “great win for Ohio and America.”

“I have been saying for months now that is the best qualified by experience, leadership, vision, temperament and heart to be our next president,” Munroe said.

Johnson, who is a delegate for Kasich, said there was also an increase in Republican voting in Columbiana, like Mahoning.

Mahoning County has 14,663 registered Republicans, but on Tuesday 34,503 voters voted on the Republican side out of 70,927 total voters.

On the Democrat side, there are 40,958 registered Democrats but there were only 36,060 people who voted Democrat on Tuesday.

“It’s just a remarkable number in a presidential election that the Republican and Democrat turnout is almost equal,” Munroe said. “I would like to extend a welcome to the many new Republicans in the county.”

Munroe pointed to various reasons for the large party crossover including the support for both the Trump and Kasich candidacies, voters crossing over to vote against Trump, and Clinton supporters crossing over to vote for Trump because they feel he is the Republican opponent she can beat in the fall.

A confident Clinton pivoted quickly to November during her victory rally, assailing Trump’s hardline immigration positions and support for torture. “Our commander-in-chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it,” she declared.

Clinton’s victories in Ohio and Florida were a blow to rival Sanders and bolstered her argument that she’s the best Democratic candidate to take on the eventual Republican nominee in the general election. Her win in Ohio was a particular relief for her campaign, which grew anxious after Sanders pulled off a surprising win last week in Michigan, another important Midwestern state.

After another good night for Trump, some Republicans were struggling to come to grips with the prospect of him becoming the nominee and desperate to find long-shot ways to stop him.

A group of conservatives planned to meet Thursday to discuss options including a contested convention or by rallying around a third-party candidate. While such no candidate has been identified, meeting participants planned to discuss ballot access issues, including using an existing third party as a vehicle or securing signatures for an independent bid.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., did not rule out the idea of being drafted by the party at the convention.

“People say, ‘What about the contested convention?”’ Ryan said in an interview with CNBC. “I say, well, there are a lot of people running for president. We’ll see. Who knows?”