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Trump sweeps Atlantic primaries crowns himself the presumptive GOP nominee
By Bonnie K. Goodman
April 27, 2016 5:14 AM MST
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump inched closer to become presumptive nominee Trump. On Tuesday evening, April 26, Trump swept the night’s primaries in the Atlantic states of Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island. Trump now won three-quarters of the delegates necessary to clinch the nomination and in his victory press conference declared himself the presumptive nominee.
Trump later spoke at a press conference at Trump Tower in New York for 35 minutes where called himself the party’s presumptive nominee. Trump expressed, “This to me was our biggest night. I consider myself the presumptive nominee. As far as I am concerned, it’s over.” Trump also asked the party to unite around his nomination, saying, “We should heal the Republican Party.”
Speaking of his sweep of five states, Trump said, “This is a far bigger win than we expected.” Trump also won the largest delegate prize of the night Pennsylvania. Continuing Trump pointed out the diverse demographics of each state, “This one’s a diverse victory…. Every one of them is conclusive and every state is so different. When you crack 60 [percent] with three people, that’s very hard to do.”
Trump won over 50 percent of the vote in each state and 142 delegates out of 172 up for grabs, including all the available delegates in Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. In Connecticut, Trump won 57.7 percent of the vote, in Delaware 60.8 percent, in Maryland 54.4 percent in Rhode Island 63.8 percent and in the most important contest Pennsylvania, Trump won 56.7 percent of the vote.
Trump’s margin of victory in each contest was 30 percent and over. The GOP front-runner also won the vote from very conservative and evangelical voters, two blocks that previously supported Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Kasich came in second in four of the contests, and third in Pennsylvania. He garnered between 19.4 percent of the vote to his best 28.5 percent in Connecticut. Rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz was third in all the contests except for Pennsylvania, the only state where he cracked over 20 percent of the vote with 21.6 percent.
Cruz, however, vowed not to give up, although mathematically he cannot win the nomination except in the event of a contested convention. Cruz looking forward to Indiana’s contests told supporters before polls closed, “I’ve got good news for you tonight, this campaign moves back to more favorable terrain.” Cruz also said he will continue through Oregon and New Mexico.
Although Kasich has no chance at the nomination, his campaign tweeted his determination to stay in the race. Kasich’s campaign wrote, “Never wavering from his commitment to a campaign focused on optimism and strength, John Kasich will continue making his supporters proud.”
After his wins, Trump turned towards the general election attacking the Democrats most likely nominee Hillary Clinton. In his victory speech, Trump said, “I think the only card she has is the women’s card. She has got nothing else going. Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she would get 5% of the vote.”
Trump currently has 988 delegates out of the 1,237 needed to clinch the Republican nomination. Cruz has 568 while Kasich only has 152.
History Musings... Bonnie K. Goodman 
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