Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016 (Rubio '16)

The 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and caucuses were a series of electoral contests taking place within all 50 s, the, and five , occurring between February 1 and June 7. Sanctioned by the, these elections are designed to select the 2,472 delegates to send to the , who selected the Republican Party's for  in the ,. The delegates also approved the party platform and vice-presidential nominee.

A total of 17 major candidates entered the race starting March 23, 2015, when  of  was the first to formally announce his candidacy: he was followed by former Governor  of Florida, retired neurosurgeon  of Maryland, Governor  of New Jersey, businesswoman  of California, former Governor  of Virginia, Senator  of South Carolina, former Governor  of Arkansas, outgoing Governor  of Louisiana, Governor  of Ohio, former Governor  of New York, Senator  of Kentucky, former Governor  of Texas, Senator  of Florida, former Senator  of Pennsylvania, businessman  of New York and Governor  of Wisconsin. This was the largest presidential primary field for any political party in American history.

Prior to the on February 1, Perry, Walker, Jindal, Graham, and Pataki withdrew due to low polling numbers. Despite leading many polls in Iowa, Trump came in second to Cruz; Huckabee, Christie, Paul, and Santorum performed poorly at the ballot box and bowed out. Following Trump's decisive victory in, Fiorina and Gilmore abandoned the race; however in the coming weeks, Trump's popularity crashed after tapes were released of him speaking about women in a lewd and vile manner. Bush capitulated after losing to Rubio in and coming in third behind Kasich and Cruz. On, March 1, 2016, Rubio won Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Georgia, while Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, and his home state of Texas. Shortly after, Carson and Trump dropped out of the race.