Mitt Romney (Unofficially) Wins Republican Nomination

It won’t be official until the Republican National Convention, but last night Mitt Romney won a victory in Texas that was sufficient to put him over the top in the delegate race:

(Reuters) – Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday with a resounding victory in Texas and now faces a five-month sprint to convince voters to trust him over Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Although the race has been essentially over for weeks, Romney finally cleared the benchmark of 1,144 delegates needed to become the Republicans’ presidential candidate after a long, bitter primary battle with a host of conservative rivals.

He will be formally nominated at the Republicans’ convention in Florida in late August.

In a statement, Romney said he was humbled to win enough of Texas’ 155 delegates to secure the nomination.

“Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us. I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity,” he said.

Indeed, earlier today, the President called Governor Romney to congratulate him on his win, which may be the last time the two men speak privately until Election Night.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. mattb says:

    I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if a handful of Paul-Bot Convention delegates suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

  2. ernieyeball says:

    @ mattb: That’s RonLuvPaulBot to you Charlie…

    “Mitt Romney won the Texas primary. Romney’s campaign claims the win secures his nomination despite not clinching the required delegate majority.”
    http://reason.com/blog/2012/05/30/am-links-romney-claims-victory-in-texas