Donald
Trump took another step toward clinching the Republican presidential nomination
Tuesday, easily sweeping Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and
Connecticut in the latest round of GOP primaries.
But
Trump’s victories, while commanding, did not bring an end to the Republican
contest. Though the real estate mogul and former reality television star was
expected to take home the majority of the 172 delegates at stake in Tuesday’s
voting, adding to his already sizable lead, Pennsylvania’s delegate rules
stopped Trump from making a clean sweep.
While
Trump won Pennsylvania’s statewide vote, clinching 17 of the state’s 71
delegates, another 54 were officially “unbound,” meaning they can make their
own decision about which candidate to support at the party’s convention in July
in Cleveland. That technicality gave a glimmer of hope to Sen. Ted Cruz of
Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who are trying to stop Trump from getting the
1,237 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination before the convention.
Still,
Trump characterized his wins Tuesday as proof of his unstoppable momentum.
Speaking to reporters at his election night event at Trump Tower, the GOP
frontrunner said he considered the race “effectively over” because Cruz and
Kasich “cannot win.”
“I
consider myself the presumptive nominee,” Trump said. “If you look honestly,
Sen. Cruz and Gov. Kasich should really get out the race… They should get out
of the race, and we should heal the Republican Party.”
Although
Trump now leads Cruz by more than 300 delegates, neither the Texas senator nor
Kasich seem interested in ending their quest for the White House. The contest
now shifts to Indiana, a state that could make or break the #NeverTrump
movement.
There,
Trump narrowly leads Cruz in a state that is viewed as friendly territory for
the Texas senator. And on Tuesday night, Cruz took his campaign to the New
Castle Fieldhouse, the legendary home of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team,
where he cast himself as an underdog unwilling to give up the fight.
“Tonight,
this campaign moves back toward favorable terrain,” Cruz declared. “There is
nothing Hoosiers cannot do.”
When
Trump heads to Indiana on Wednesday, he will attempt to one-up Cruz in terms of
basketball pandering. He plans to campaign with former Hoosiers coach Bobby
Knight, a beloved sports figure in the state who endorsed Trump several months
ago.
But
Trump will first make a stop in Washington, D.C., where he’s scheduled to
deliver a foreign policy speech — the first of several policy speeches he has
promised to make as he attempts to transition from a primary to a general
election candidate.
The
candidate declined to go into specifics of what exactly he would talk about
Wednesday. But he did reject the idea that he will tone down his rhetoric —
pushing back on his convention manager Paul Manafort’s comments to members of
the Republican National Committee last week that suggested Trump is merely
playing “a part” and would embrace a more “presidential” tone in the coming
weeks.
“I
am me. I am not playing a part,” Trump said Tuesday night, adding that he had
received dozens of messages from supporters saying, “Please don’t change,
please don’t change.” “If you have a football team, and you are winning… Why
would I change?” he said.
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