TRUMP WINS ALL 5 PRIMARIES
Donald Trump is projected to win all five states up for grabs in Tuesday’s Republican presidential contests, boosting his hopes of winning the GOP nomination outright and avoiding a contested Republican National Convention in July.
There were 118 bound delegates at stake in contests in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island, and Trump is poised to take a strong majority of these by virtue of winning the popular vote in each state.
Trump will get all 17 bound delegates in Pennsylvania, as well as the 16 up for grabs in winner-take-all Delaware.
Trump’s victories in Maryland and Connecticut make it likely he’ll take a majority of the 66 delegates for those two states, as the bulk are allocated in winner-take-all contests at the congressional district level.Trump’s haul will be limited in Rhode Island, which awards its delegates on a strictly proportional basis. But the GOP front-runner will still take more delegates than rivals Ted Cruz or John Kasich.
Trump entered Tuesday with 845 delegates, needing to win about 58 percent of the remaining 674 still up for grabs to get to 1,237 delegates, the threshold for clinching the nomination.
The sweep means Trump is likely to lower the percentage of delegates he needs to win the rest of the way to get to 1,237.
GOP candidates now go to Indiana, which is viewed as the latest hurdle to Trump by his rivals. If Trump wins the state, he’s almost certain to become the nominee.
To try to hold him off, Cruz and Kasich entered into an alliance in Indiana, with Kasich agreeing to pull his resources from the state to allow for a one-on-one contest between Trump and Cruz.
Polls show Trump with a narrow lead over the Texas senator one week before voters head to the polls.
Cruz and Kasich both hope that if Trump doesn’t get 1,237 delegates, a GOP convention could settle on a different nominee. Cruz believes he can win enough support on a second ballot to become the GOP nominee.
The Trump campaign has thus far struggled with the inside game of getting supporters elected as delegates. Cruz has routed Trump time and again on that front, even in states Trump handily won in the popular vote.
The latest test for Trump will come in Pennsylvania, where 54 of the state’s delegates are elected directly by voters and unbound to any candidate.
Many of those candidates have already said they’ll support whoever wins their district, at least on the first ballot at the convention, but Cruz has been working hard to ensure his supporters are selected as delegates. That could help him on subsequent ballots at a contested convention.
The Trump campaign had two House members — Pennsylvania Reps. Tom Marino and Lou Barletta — working on the ground to get Trump’s operations up to speed.
The Trump campaign passed around a delegate slate card at polling stations across the state, urging voters to select candidates that have already pledged their support to the GOP front-runner.
Source: The Hill
