Cruz Drops Out; Trump Is 'Presumptive Nominee'

Ted Cruz is out. The Texas senator is ending his campaign after being routed in Indiana by Donald Trump in Tuesday's primary, reports the AP. Cruz had staged a last stand in the state in the hope of preventing Trump from securing the nomination, but he told supporters that he has no "viable path to victory" after the loss. "The voters chose another path," he said. "We gave it everything we've got." Trump, who was leading by about 15 points, had been declared the winner as soon as polls closed at 7pm EDT. "We're going after Hillary Clinton," he told his own supporters after Cruz's announcement. "And we're going to win." In his speech, Trump also praised Cruz as "one hell of a competitor" and said he had an "amazing future."

Shortly after Cruz's bombshell, Republican National Committee chief Reince Priebus tweeted that Trump is the "presumptive nominee," adding that "we all need to unite and focus on defeating" Clinton. In his own speech, Cruz made no mention of the front-runner. Earlier in the day, however, he unleashed a diatribe, calling Trump a "serial philanderer" and a "pathological liar," notes NBC News. That came after Trump dredged up a bizarre National Enquirer report linking Cruz's dad to Lee Harvey Oswald. John Kasich was a distant third in Indiana, though he gave no indication he planned to follow Cruz's lead and drop out. (More Indiana primary stories.)