Mitt Romney unofficially won the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential election Tuesday with a win in the Texas primary.

The former Massachusetts governor won 105 of the 152 delegates up for grabs in Texas, according to the Associated Press. With 1,191 total delegates after winning Texas, Romney surpasses the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination.

“I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy, and I am humbled to have won enough delegates to become the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee,” Romney said in a statement following the primary.

Romney acknowledged the challenges he will continue to face through the Nov. 6 election, but said “whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity.”

Texas Congressman Ron Paul did not campaign in the Texas primaries, though he won 18 of the delegates, according to the Associated Press. He announced May 14 he would no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries but that he would continue to seek delegates.

The remaining delegates at stake in Texas were split among candidates who had dropped out of the race.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is said to be on Romney’s “short list” of candidates for vice president, according The Washington Post. Marco Rubio of Florida is another contender for the position, also representing a swing state.

In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Romney will have defeated Tim Pawlenty, Thaddeus McCotter and Herman Cain, who dropped out before the primaries began in Iowa on Jan. 3. Michele Bachmann dropped out of the race the day after the Iowa caucuses. By the end of January, Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry also dropped out of the race. Rick Santorum dropped out on April 10 and Newt Gingrich dropped out on May 2.

Buddy Roemer, former governor of Louisiana, ran for the Republican nomination before dropping out to run as a third-party candidate.

Romney campaigned for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination but dropped about a month before John McCain was given the nomination. Romney, 65, will become the first Mormon to be nominated by a major party.

Romney has raised $88.7 million for his campaign, compared to President Barack Obama’s $207.8 million, according to The New York Times.

Some Ohio State students said they were not surprised by Romney’s Texas primary win and unofficial Republican presidential nomination.

“It was pretty predictable that he’s going to get it for a while now,” said Emily Witt, a fifth-year in pre-medicine.
Beth Clausing, a first-year in landscape architecture, said that while she has not followed the presidential race closely, she expected Romney to get the nomination due to the media’s extensive coverage of him over other candidates.

“From the limited amounts I’ve heard (about the Republican presidential race), I’ve heard the most about him,” Clausing said.

Romney’s all-but-certain nomination will not be made official until the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Aug. 27-30.