David Albers is a 2013 graduate of Jacksonville High School. His future plans include working in and writing about politics and eventually running for higher office.

The 2016 presidential race is heating up as the candidates come away from last weekend’s contests in South Carolina and Nevada. Hilary Clinton bested rival Bernie Sanders in the Nevada caucus and Trump once again dominated his opponents in the South Carolina primary with Marco Rubio narrowly besting Ted Cruz in the race for second place. These results are hardly surprising, but they have a significant impact on the race going forward.

Hilary holds strong in key Nevada race

After a questionable victory in Iowa and drubbing in New Hampshire, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton can breathe a little easier going into South Carolina this Saturday. This important victory comes at a time when even establishment Democrats are questioning her viability as the presumed nominee. After a stronger-than-expected challenge from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the Clinton camp has been on its heels trying to reassure donors that she is still the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party. This win provides her campaign with the message they have been trying to promote from the start: Hilary is the best candidate to represent minority voters and the most capable candidate to win the White House in November. With almost homogenous races in both New Hampshire and Iowa, the Nevada caucus, where 48.5% of citizens identified as non-white in the most recent census, was Clinton’s first opportunity to back up that idea.

Senator Sanders also needed a win in Nevada to prove he was capable of championing minority groups going in to the southern swing of primaries in the coming months. The senator has struggled from the start to gain traction among minority groups, especially African Americans, with his message of economic inequality. His five-point loss is nothing to scoff at, though. Secretary Clinton held a large double-digit lead in the state until just recently. Also, many polls have indicated that Senator Sanders finished only a few points behind or tied with Hilary Clinton among Latino voters, which is the largest minority group in the state. Clinton also managed to grab the endorsements of major workers’ unions in the state, an endorsement usually enjoyed by Sanders. Secretary Clinton can rightfully claim victory in Nevada, but Sanders’s close loss means she needs a big victory in South Carolina.

Because the Nevada contest was a caucus, Secretary Clinton only went home with four more delegates than Senator Sanders.

Trump triumphs in South Carolina; Rubio and Cruz battle for second

As the polls indicated for many weeks leading up to last weekend’s primary in South Carolina, Donald Trump comfortably defeated the five other remaining candidates for the Republican nomination. This success further cements the notion that he is the true front-runner with possibly the only viable path to victory in November. Trump proved that he can play in the Deep South, adding to his Northern win in New Hampshire two weeks ago. Since 1980, South Carolina has picked the eventual nominee correctly all but one time. Adding to that statistic, no candidate has ever won New Hampshire and South Carolina and not gone on to be the Party’s nominee. His victory in South Carolina gives him plenty of momentum heading into Nevada on Tuesday and Super Tuesday on March 1. A strong showing then could all but cement his claim to nomination.

The battle for second, however small the margin of victory, was significant in that it presents voters with the nominal alternative to Trump. Rubio’s second place finish heading into Nevada—where he is again expected to do well—provides the GOP establishment with maybe the last true challenge to Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party. After Rubio’s poor finish in the New Hampshire primary, a narrow second place finish is more than welcome. Establishment donations and endorsements are expected to shift to him in the coming weeks, especially with a strong finish in Nevada. As Governor Bush suspends his campaign, the number of establishment candidates dwindles even further. These changes in personnel may provide the Rubio campaign with just the boost in votes it needs to hold second place consistently and build momentum going into Super Tuesday and other contests farther down the road.