BREAKING: Ted Cruz Quits Presidential Race As Donald Trump Leaps Toward

Update (10:30 p.m. ET) — Donald Trump's march to the GOP presidential nomination continued Tuesday with lengthy and powerful strides through Indiana, where he trounced John Kasich and Ted Cruz, leaving the Texas senator's campaign bruised, bloodied and finally beaten so badly he had no choice but to give it up.

With the trouncing reaching double-digits, Cruz, the man who wouldn't quit, quit.

Carly Fiorina, who dropped out of the race early and answered Cruz's desperate call to become his vice presidential candidate should he have won the nomination, sounded much like a widow offering a eulogy as she introduced Cruz to a mostly solemn crowd.

And then Cruz, with his wife Heidi crying at his side, took to the campaign stage and announced his campaign is, indeed, dead.

“I’ve said that I would continue on as long as there is a viable path to victory," he said late Tuesday. "Tonight, I’m sorry to say it appears that path has been foreclosed. We gave it everything we’ve got. But the voters chose another path.

"And so with a heavy heart – but with boundless optimism, for the long-term future of our nation – we are suspending our campaign.”

Trump, who relentlessly attacked Cruz during what was at times a brutal campaign between the two, was gracious in his victory.

"What Ted did is really a brave thing to do. And a great thing to do,” Trump said. "Because we want to bring unity to the Republican Party.”

Kasich, the Ohio governor, promised to fight on.

Regardless, the results made clear that whatever Cruz or Kasich would do through the rest of the primary season would be less relevant than ever, at least as far as math is concerned. Trump needs only a handful of delegates going forward to reach the 1,237 necessary to clinch the party's nomination before July's Republican convention in Cleveland.

Republicans, to put it mildly, are in a difficult spot should Trump close the deal with GOP voters.

The party's nominee will be a man who has never held public office, has never served in the military, seems to know little about world affairs and is intensely disliked by women, Hispanics and most people with college degrees.

Party leaders lost their own designated candidates, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush, early in the campaign. By the time they realized Trump's candidacy constituted a movement, they were too late to stop him. Their campaign by that very name, "Stop Trump," not only failed miserably but backfired tremendously, quickening the real estate developer's ascent and the downfall of the rest of the field.

Indiana, at one point in the 2016 campaign, was supposed to be a firewall for Cruz, whose appeal to a sizable evangelical Christian population was supposed to assure him victory against any opponent. That strategy would have foretold a defeat over Trump, too, had anybody in the world thought Trump would still be in the race.

In what would become his last campaign appearance Tuesday morning, Cruz called Trump a “pathological liar” and “utterly amoral.” If Indiana voted for Trump, Cruz said, “this country could well plunge into the abyss.”

As it was, Cruz had entered Tuesday's voting as the underdog, coming off one of the most miserable stretches of presidential campaigning in memory.

First, a supposed alliance with Kasich to leave Indiana a one-on-one fight between Cruz and Trump unraveled almost immediately after it was announced. Cruz's selection of Carly Fiorina, far from injecting energy into the campaign and attracting support, was instead widely mocked (no more so than when she fell off a stage while campaigning). And, for reasons unknown, Cruz faced off, unscripted, with Trump supporters as every major news station in the United States and beyond took video of him being humiliated.

He called a basketball hoop a basketball ring.

In Indiana.

And he never recovered from the stretch, which sunk to new lows over the past week until it was all over in one, humiliating vote.

Trump's clean sweep last Tuesday left little room for error in the fight to deny him the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination on the first ballot at the convention (after which many delegates would be free to jump ship to other candidates).

Kasich's campaign said in a statement that he would stay in the race unless and until Trump secures the 1,237 delegates.

"Our strategy has been and continues to be one that involves winning the nomination at an open convention," the governor said. "The comments from Trump, on the verge of winning in Indiana, heighten the differences between Governor Kasich and his positive, inclusive approach and the disrespectful ramblings from Donald Trump. Prior to tonight’s primary, the Kasich campaign had already secured a large plurality of Indiana delegates committed to Governor Kasich at a multi-ballot convention as part of the pre-primary delegate selection process."

And Indiana's 57 delegates — awarded in a winner-take-all fashion at the state and congressional district level — made it the biggest prize remaining outside of California.

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Voting Totals (88% reported)

Trump: 53%

Cruz: 37%

Kasich: <10%

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• FULL COVERAGE: Indiana Primary Results
• SEE ALSO: Indiana Democratic Primary Results
  

In an effort to stop Trump from reaching his required number of delegates, Cruz and Kasich had arranged a gentleman's agreement of sorts to more efficiently allocate resources. Cruz would focus on Indiana while Kasich would prioritize his attention towards Oregon and New Mexico.

Instead of being a coordinated effort among party allies, the plan went south after Trump raised a fit, and both the Cruz and Kasich camps denied being in cahoots with each other. (Never mind the statements they each initially put out announcing the alliance.)

But Kasich was nonexistent in the Hoosier state, with Cruz becoming the state's last hope against Trump.

Cruz did earn the endorsement of Gov. Mike Pence, though calling it an endorsement would be generous. Pence praised Trump's campaign and his standing up for Indiana jobs. Then he said he would be voting for Cruz but Indiana voters should make up their own minds.

Trump got (much more enthusiastic) endorsements from Indiana sports legends Bob Knight and Lou Holtz.

Matthew Bergbower, assistant professor of American Politics at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, says the argument that the Stop Trump forces have suddenly become stronger is not convincing.

Bergbower said the "Anyone But Trump" movement has been around for a while and has not affected the way previous states have voted.

"Trump is campaigning hard in Indiana and sending a strong economic message," Bergbower told Patch before the voting. "In towns like Anderson, Gary and Evansville, with a blue-collar history, someone like Trump really connects with people like that.

"They want to hear about jobs going to Mexico and China; they want to hear someone like Trump."

State polling, too, pointed toward another Trump victory.

The latest, from Gravis Marketing, was conducted between April 28 and 29 and showed Trump with 44 percent support to Cruz's 27 in the state. The telephone survey of 379 likely Republican voters had a 5 percent margin of error, still keeping Trump comfortably in the victory zone.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll of 2,149 likely Indiana Republican voters conducted from April 26 and 28 told a similar story, with Trump at 49 percent and Cruz at 34. It had a 3.9-percent margin of error.

A FiveThirtyEight analysis points out the Indiana primary was tough to call due to the state's large white demographic. The analysis also notes that Indiana is different from states like Wisconsin, disputing the notion that the race represents an extension of other midwestern contests.

Indiana's history, which includes a large influx of residents from the South, continues to manifest itself today in contrast to surrounding states.

See Patch's live updates below:

Update: 5:11 p.m. Eastern:

These exit polls seem like more bad news for Ted Cruz in tonight's Indiana Republican primary.

Forecaster FiveThirtyEight's final projections give Donald Trump an 81 percent chance of winning tonight, with just 19 percent for Cruz.

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Update: 4:43 p.m. Eastern:

These apparent text messages from the Trump campaign seem a little ominous. We'll keep an eye on the allegations.

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Update: 4:02 p.m. Eastern:

Here is an interesting insight into Ted Cruz's antics today. It doesn't appear he's all that confident in his chances in the primary tonight.

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Update: 2:35 p.m. Eastern:

Add Mark Salter's name to the growing list of Republicans who say they'll support Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump:

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Update: 1:53 p.m. Eastern:

Let's check in on John Kasich, who basically took himself out of the Indiana race but is still on the ballot.

Oh dear.

Yes, that would seem to be a bad sign.

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Update: 1:06 p.m. Eastern:

Ted Cruz isn't pulling any punches. He went all out on Donald Trump just now:

This is probably too little too late (much, much too late) for Cruz, who has largely been reluctant to attack Trump on the trail before the last couple of weeks.

Back in December he went so far as to criticize the media for goading him into criticizing Trump saying "Sorry to disappoint -- @realDonaldTrump is terrific. #DealWithIt."

Simpler times, huh?

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Update 12:02 p.m. Eastern:

This may shock you, but Donald Trump is sounding big, boisterous and confident today. Here he is talking to ABC News this morning:

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Update: 11:55 a.m. Eastern:

According to early voting numbers from the IndyStar, it looks like Indiana will see a high voter turnout today, which has been the case across the country this year.

Images via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons