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 personality Donald Trump won the Republican nomination for president of the United States.
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. From early in the primary season, the race was characterized as a wide and diverse contest with no clear frontrunner. Early polling leaders included former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, among others. The race was disrupted by the entry of Trump in June 2015, who quickly and unexpectedly rose to lead polls for the rest of the primary season, with the exception of a period in the fall when neurosurgeon Ben Carson experienced a surge in support.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas won the Iowa caucuses, while Trump won the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries as well as the Nevada caucuses. On Super Tuesday, Trump and Cruz traded states with Trump receiving the plurality of the day's delegates. From March 16 to May 3, only three candidates remained in the race: Trump, Cruz, and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Cruz won four Western contests and won in Wisconsin, keeping open a credible path to denying Trump the nomination on first ballot with 1,237 delegates. Trump scored landslide victories in his home state of New York and five northeastern states in April, before taking every delegate in the Indiana primary on May 3. Without any further chances of forcing a contested convention, Cruz suspended his campaign. 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. 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. Trump received over 14 million votes, the most for any candidate in Republican primary history. 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.
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. The pair won the general election on November 8, defeating the Democratic Party ticket of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and her running mate, U.S. Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine, despite the Democratic ticket consistently leading in polls.
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.
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.See detailed schedule below
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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
Nominee +Republican nominee for the 2016 presidential election Candidate Born Most recent position Home state Campaign Bounddelegates Popularvote Contests won Running mate Ref.Donald Trump(age )Queens, New York Chairman of The Trump Organization(1971–2017) CampaignFEC filingSecured nomination:May 26, 2016 1,441() (floor 1,725) 14,015,993(44.95%) 41 Mike Pence
Withdrew during the primaries
+Major candidates who withdrew during the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Candidate Born position Home state Campaign announced Campaign suspended Campaign Bounddelegates Popularvote Contests won Running mate Ref. Ted Cruz (age )Calgary, Alberta, Canada U.S. senator from Texas(2013–present) March 23, 2015 May 3, 2016(endorsed Trump) __________CampaignFEC filing 551 ()(floor 484) 7,822,100 (25.08%) 11 Carly Fiorina Marco Rubio (age )Miami, Florida U.S. senator from Florida(2011–2025) April 13, 2015 March 15, 2016(ran successfully for reelection; endorsed Trump) __________CampaignFEC filing 173 ()(floor 123) 3,515,576 (11.27%) 3 None John Kasich (age )McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania Governor of Ohio(2011–2019) July 21, 2015 May 4, 2016(did not endorse any candidate, wrote-in John McCain for general election) __________CampaignFEC filing 161 ()(floor 125) 4,290,448 (13.76%) 1 None Ben Carson (age )Detroit, Michigan Director of pediatric neurosurgeryfor Johns Hopkins Children's Center(1984–2013) May 3, 2015 March 4, 2016(endorsed Trump) __________CampaignFEC filing 9 ()(floor 7) 857,039 (2.75%) None None Jeb Bush (age )Midland, Texas Governor of Florida(1999–2007) June 15, 2015 February 20, 2016(endorsed Cruz, then no endorsement) __________CampaignFEC filing 4 ()(floor 3) 286,694 (0.92%) None None Rand Paul (age )Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania U.S. senator from Kentucky(2011–present) April 7, 2015 February 3, 2016(ran successfully for reelection; endorsed Trump) __________CampaignFEC filing 1 ()(floor 2) 66,788 (0.21%) None None Mike Huckabee (age )Hope, Arkansas Governor of Arkansas(1996–2007) May 5, 2015 February 1, 2016(endorsed Trump) __________CampaignFEC filing 1 ()(floor 0) 51,450 (0.16%) None None Carly Fiorina (age )Austin, Texas CEO of Hewlett-Packard(1999–2005) May 4, 2015 February 10, 2016(endorsed Cruz, later Trump but rescinded endorsement) __________CampaignFEC filing 1 ()(floor 0) 40,666 (0.13%) None None Chris Christie (age )Newark, New Jersey Governor of New Jersey(2010–2018) June 30, 2015 February 10, 2016(endorsed Trump) __________CampaignFEC filing None 57,637 (0.18%) None None Jim Gilmore (age )Richmond, Virginia Governor of Virginia(1998–2002) July 30, 2015 February 12, 2016(endorsed Trump) __________CampaignFEC filing None 18,369 (0.06%) None None Rick Santorum (age )Winchester, Virginia U.S. senator from Pennsylvania(1995–2007) May 27, 2015 February 3, 2016(endorsed Rubio, later Trump) __________CampaignFEC filing None 16,627 (0.05%) None None
Withdrew before the primaries
+Major candidates who withdrew before the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Candidate Born position Home state Campaign announced Campaign suspended Campaign Bounddelegates (hard count) Popularvote Contests won Ref. George Pataki (age )Peekskill, New York Governor of New York(1995–2006) May 28, 2015December 29, 2015(endorsed Rubio, later Kasich, then no endorsement) __________CampaignFEC filingNone2,036None Lindsey Graham (age )Central, South Carolina U.S. senator from South Carolina(2003–2026) June 1, 2015December 21, 2015(endorsed Bush, later Cruz, then McMullin) __________CampaignFEC filingNone5,666None Bobby Jindal (age )Baton Rouge, Louisiana Governor of Louisiana(2008–2016) June 24, 2015November 17, 2015(endorsed Rubio, later Trump) __________CampaignFEC filingNone222None Scott Walker (age )Colorado Springs, Colorado Governor of Wisconsin(2011–2019) July 13, 2015September 21, 2015(endorsed Cruz, later Trump) __________CampaignFEC filingNone1None Rick Perry (age )Haskell, Texas Governor of Texas(2000–2015) June 4, 2015September 11, 2015(endorsed Cruz, later Trump) __________CampaignFEC filingNone1None
Results by delegates (hard total)
Results by state popular vote
Results by county popular vote
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,Isenstadt, Alex (January 14, 2014) "GOP convention set for July 18–21 in 2016", Politico. Retrieved January 15, 2015. the earliest date since Republicans nominated Thomas Dewey in June 1948.
Elements of the Republican establishment, including Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, had been grooming then Kansas governor Sam Brownback as the party's favorite mostly due to his aggressive 2012 fiscal overhaul of state finances dubbed the "Kansas experiment." The experiment, engineered primarily by Koch Industries veteran economist Steve Anderson, ultimately caused a financial crisis. The state would see a $687.9 million loss in revenue after predicting its massive tax cuts would grow the economy by $323 million. Brownback would narrowly win in overwhelmingly Republican Kansas during his 2014 re-election bid dashing his national aspirations and further opening the primary.