Donald Trump appears at a rally for his New York Republican primary campaign at the Grumman Studios in Bethpage New York April 6, 2016. (Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)
Donald Trump has won the New York Republican Primary on Tuesday, while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will come in a distant third to Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The next question becomes whether Mr. Trump will sweep all 95 delegates up for grabs in The Empire State.
In Kings County, the largest in New York with 1,720 precincts, Mr. Trump is leading with more than 65% of the vote. In Queens County, the second largest county in the state, he has the support of more than 65%.
“We don’t have much more of a race anymore,” Mr. Trump said in his victory speech in New York City. “It looks like we are going to win more delegates than anyone projected and, as of now, Ted Cruz is mathematically eliminated.”
Mr. Trump was referring to a clear path to clinch the Republican nomination by securing 1,237 delegates. Considering that 1) the delegate count for Mr. Trump after New York is now expected to exceed PPD’s projections and, 2) the likely results in the next round of contests, Sen. Cruz is essentially in the same boat as Gov. Kasich–mathematically incapable of reaching the magic number.
Since early March, the Texas senator has argued that a vote for Gov. Kasich was a waste of a vote because his path was mathematically impossible. Ironically, exit polls show he might have helped Mr. Trump build such an overwhelming win by attacking “New York values” ahead of the Iowa caucus, which ultimately came back to hurt him.
Worth noting, the Republican frontrunner has now become the first GOP candidate to win a majority in their home state. Sen. Cruz won just 43.76% in his home state, making The Lone Star State just one of two states that went for him during the SEC Primary on Super Tuesday. But Mr. Trump won 26.75% of the vote in what was then a six-person race. In Ohio, Gov. Kasich won a slightly larger 46.83% compared to 35.61% for Mr. Trump.
The victory now puts at least 14 more delegates that are allocated to the statewide winner in Trump’s column, which puts his soft pledged number at 767 to 548 for Sen. Cruz. PPD delegate projections, which tallies behind-the-scenes support confirmed by unbound delegates, puts the frontrunner at 799.
The Republican nomination now turns to Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland, all of which are states where Mr. Trump holds a lead in the polls and is favored to win. The states vote on Tuesday April 24. Sen. Cruz, sensing defeat, headed to Maryland ahead of the vote in New York, a state Gov. Kasich does not even have a full slate of delegates lined up.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump on Wednesday will head to Indiana. The Hoosier State, which votes on May 3, is Sen. Cruz’s best first chance to stop the frontrunner’s momentum.
