Republican John Kasich ends White House bid, clears path for Donald Trump

WASHINGTON: Governor John Kasich of Ohio has announced to drop out of the Republican presidential race, leaving alone Donald Trump who is now the party's presumptive nominee for the November 8 general elections in the US.

"While I suspend my campaign, I have renewed faith, deeper faith, that the Lord will show me the way forward and fulfil the purpose of my life," Kasich yesterday told his supporters in Ohio, making a reflective note of his journey so far as a nominee to the White House.

Though the last of the 16 Republican presidential aspirants to withdraw from the race, Kasich, a popular two-term Ohio Governor, had a miserable campaign so far. He could win only in Ohio and muster a little over 150 delegates from the primaries and caucuses held in more than 40 states so far.

"The people of our country changed me. They changed me with the stories of their lives," an emotional Kasich said. Unlike others in the race, he ran a positive campaign, but could not gather enough support to slow down the Trump Train.

"That's good. That's nice. That's interesting. It's very interesting," Trump told the Time magazine in an interview when the news of Kasich suspending campaign came.

"So Kasich is dropping out," he then mused to TIME. "Hmm ... That's big. I didn't think that was going to happen," the real estate mogul was quoted as saying.

With Trump alone in the race in the Republican party, he being crowned as the presidential nominee at the Cleveland convention in July is now only an formality.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz had on Tuesday suspended his campaign for the White House as a Republican nominee after he suffered a devastating in the Indiana primary.