Mitt Romney moved from GOP front-runner to the nominee with a victory in the Texas presidential primary May 29. The Boston Globe reports Romney now has enough delegates -- the magic 1,144 number -- to become the official nominee at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., in late August. The nomination comes almost a year after declaring his candidacy.
Here's a look back, starting in summer 2011:
June 2: Announced a run for the White House
Romney was in Stratham, N.H., when he declared, "Barack Obama has failed America." The New York Times covered Romney's first speech as a candidate for president. He was at a farm in rural New Hampshire, the first state to hold primary elections.
June 13: First debate
Romney's first debate was on the campus of St. Anselm University in Manchester, N.H. The event was sponsored by CNN as seven candidates took the stage as they received questions from local voters. Romney would spend a lot of time in New Hampshire campaigning for primary votes.
Aug. 13: Iowa Straw Poll
The Iowa Straw Poll was conducted two months after Romney's first debate. He came in seventh place with 567 votes. His campaign had already decided to focus on New Hampshire. Romney announced shortly after his candidacy he was skipping Iowa, a place he invested millions of campaign dollars in 2007.
Dec. 10: $10,000 bet
In mid-December, the GOP candidates debated at Iowa State University ahead of the Iowa caucus Jan. 3. Reuters reported on the banter Romney had with Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The two candidates argued about what Romney said about health care in his book "No Apologies."
Jan. 3: Iowa caucus dead heat
Romney was initially declared the winner of the Iowa caucus in a very close race. Then the certified results were announced Jan. 19 that left Rick Santorum the victor. Despite not focusing on Iowa, Romney's strong showing was seen as a harbinger to come.
Jan. 10: New Hampshire primary
A week after Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus, New Hampshire was the focus of the Romney campaign. The former governor of border state Massachusetts won handily with 97,591 votes. Second place went to Rep. Ron Paul of Texas with 56,872 votes. Despite the close finish in Iowa, Santorum was a distant third place with 23,432 tallies just barely ahead of Newt Gingrich.
Jan. 31: Big win in Florida
Perhaps the biggest victory for Romney was in Florida at the end of the January. The front-runner picked up 776,159 votes in the winner-take-all state. Gingrich was in second with 534,121 votes. At this point, Romney's delegate lead grew and Santorum came in third again. Romney would use winner-take-all states to his advantage with Arizona and Michigan later in the race, according to the Washington Post.
April 10: Santorum dropped out
Romney's main rival dropped out of the race more than three months after the first partisan contest. Santorum was the last hurdle Romney faced to the nomination. Once Santorum ended his candidacy, Romney could cruise to victory.
May 29: Texas primary
The Texas primary sealed enough delegates to win the nomination. Romney needed to win only a small percentage of votes in Texas, but Politico reports he earned over 70 percent approval. The winner was in Las Vegas, Nev., with Donald Trump on the day Romney earned the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination.
William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics. Born in St. Louis, Browning is active in local politics and served as a campaign volunteer for President Barack Obama and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.
