With convincing victories on Tuesday, Trump and Clinton move closer to the election battle. Trump sweeps to victory in all the 5 states in the Republican race, just as Clinton won 4 out of 5 in the Democrats race.
Trump’s victory strengthened his grip on the Republican primary race and pushed tantalizingly close to a general election showdown with Hillary Clinton. The Democratic front-runner is now 90 per cent of the way to her party’s nomination after four solid victories on Tuesday.
The Republican race now turns to Indiana, where next week’s primary marks one of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s last chances to slow Trump and push the race toward a contested convention. While Trump does need to keep winning in order to stay on his narrow path to the GOP nomination, he declared himself the party’s “presumptive nominee” after Tuesday’s results rolled in. “It’s over. As far as I’m concerned it’s over,” he declared. The real estate mogul now has 77 per cent of the delegates he needs.
Clinton was eager to turn her attention to Trump. While Clinton advisers say they won’t underestimate Trump, as many of his vanquished Republican rivals did, her campaign sees opportunities to not only energize Democrats in an effort to keep him out of the White House but also appeal to Republicans turned off by the brash billionaire.
“If you are a Democrat, an independent or a thoughtful Republican, you know that their approach is not going to build an America where we increase opportunity or decrease inequality,” Clinton said of the GOP candidates.
Trump’s victories came in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Clinton ceded only Rhode Island to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Trump now has 950 of the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination. According to the AP count, Clinton now has 2,141 delegates while Sanders has 1,321. Clinton needed just 242 delegates to seal the Democrats presidential ticket.
