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Romney reaches 'magic number'

May 30, 2012

Projections on Wednesday morning showed that Mitt Romney had easily clinched the Republican nomination for presidential candidate, surpassing the "magic number" of 1,144 delegates necessary to do so.

https://p.dw.com/p/154DI
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney arrives for a campaign event at the Somers Furniture warehouse
Image: dapd

Television networks CCN and Fox News, as well as the AP news agency, projected that Romney had clearly won enough of the 155 votes up for grabs in Tuesday's primary in Texas. The networks put his share of the vote at 71 percent.

"1144. Thanks you. Whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to prosperity," Romney wrote on Twitter.

The former Massachusetts governor has been the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for weeks after his more conservative rivals, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, left the Republican race.

Libertarian Ron Paul remained in the contest only nominally, and neither he nor Romney had actively campaigned in Texas.

Romney had entered the Texas primary with 1,086 convention delegates - meaning he was just 58 short of the target.

The complex system of nomination takes place over several months, with state-by-state primaries and caucuses awarding delegates to the Republican National Convention, where the candidate is officially chosen.

Romney's nomination - now seen as a formality - is set to take place in late August at the convention in Tampa, Florida.

rc/av (AP, Reuters)