Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was able to take all five states’ primaries last night, including Pennsylvania’s. He received just over 460,000 votes in the Keystone State as of press time Tuesday night.
“A better America begins tonight,” Romney said Tuesday night during his victory speech in New Hampshire.
New York, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut held their primaries on Tuesday as well.
Romney took 62.2 percent of the vote in New York, 63.2 percent in Rhode Island, 67.4 percent in Connecticut and 56.5 percent in Delaware, as of press time.
After Tuesday night’s primary victories, Romney will start to focus on the general election, keeping the theme of a better America throughout his speech. Penn State College Republicans Chair Jordan Harris said it was probably Romney’s best speech throughout the primaries.
Harris said the campaign needed to get the message out that Romney is now being referred to as the Republican candidate.
Chairman of the Centre County Republican Committee Daryl Schafer said the GOP can now rally behind its candidate after a long primary season. He said the votes for former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum were “loyalty votes” after Santorum dropped out of the race on April 10.
Santorum received 18.4 percent of the Pennsylvania vote, while Romney took 57.4 percent of the votes in Pennsylvania.
“If you think about it, Santorum wasn’t even supposed to be in the mix at the beginning,” Schafer said. “A lot of his followers were super excited.”
Looking forward, Romney’s vice presidential candidate search, which started during the past few weeks, will get more serious.
“The summer will be interesting regarding the vice presidential search,” Harris said.
Harris said it would be good for the Republican Party to have a team to root for before August and establish who is running for president against President Barack Obama.
Schafer said little information has been released in the past few weeks about who Romney may choose, and there is a lot of speculation.
“After talking to a lot of Republicans while working a poll all day, I believe everyone is ready to unite behind the candidate for the president and the Senate,” Schafer said.
Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas, took third place in the popular vote in Pennsylvania, with 13.2 percent of the vote. Penn State’s Young Americans for Freedom ChairSam Settle said he thought Paul had a better day than expected in Pennsylvania.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich came in last place in the state, receiving 11 percent of the vote. Gingrich is in North Carolina this week, according to his campaign website. On Tuesday night, he made a speech, saying that his campaign will need to reevaluate its role in the primaries.
Anthony Christina, chair of the Federation for the College Republicans of Pennsylvania, said he is looking forward to taking the week off of politics to study for finals. He said he plans to get back to work the first week of May to gear up over the summer for congressional races and the presidential race.
“We’re excited to be united with a slate of candidates to make a case for,” Christina said.