Accessibility links

Breaking News
USA

Trump Sweeps 5 Primaries, Clinton Takes 4 as Front-runners Extend Leads

update

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are forecast to move even closer to clinching their parties' presidential nominations after Tuesday's primaries.
Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are forecast to move even closer to clinching their parties' presidential nominations after Tuesday's primaries.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump added five more primary wins Tuesday, sweeping a set of northeastern states to move closer to clinching the party's nomination for president.

Trump won easily in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island with more than 55 percent of the vote in each state.

Speaking late Tuesday to supporters, he declared the race "over" and called himself the presumptive nominee. After Tuesday's voting, he has 950 of the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, a number he is not guaranteed to reach before the Republican convention in July.

His rivals, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich cannot earn the total needed for the nomination with the remaining delegates and are focused on stopping Trump.​

Watch video report from VOA's Jim Malone:

Trump and Clinton Score Major Victories in Tuesday Primaries
please wait

No media source currently available

0:00 0:02:12 0:00

​At a campaign rally in Indiana, whose presidential primary is next week, Cruz acknowledged he was not expected to win any of the five states voting in primaries on Tuesday. But he told supporters not to write him off because he expects to do well in Indiana and Nebraska, which holds its primary May 10.

Trump calls the "Stop Trump" effort "pathetic" and accuses the Republican Party of treating him unfairly, saying the election system is "rigged."

An NBC News/Survey Monkey poll gives Trump more than 50 percent support among Republican or Republican-leaning voters nationwide for the first time. His national support had been less than 50 percent.

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the podium to speak to supporters during her five state primary night rally held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 26, 2016.
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the podium to speak to supporters during her five state primary night rally held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 26, 2016.

In the Democratic race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rolled toward her own nomination by winning four states Tuesday. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won only in Rhode Island.

She now has 2,141 delegates, including the so-called super delegates made up of party officials who have pledged to support her. That leaves Clinton 242 delegates short of clinching a majority of the Democratic delegates.

She told a crowd of jubilant supporters in Philadelphia that she will unify the Democratic Party to win the presidential election in November and carry on a strong progressive tradition.

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters during his five state primary night rally held in Huntington, West Virginia, April 26, 2016.
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters during his five state primary night rally held in Huntington, West Virginia, April 26, 2016.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

​
XS
SM
MD
LG