Trump Is Presumptive Republican Nominee; Sanders Wins Indiana
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 3, 9:15 PM EST
CNN projects that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will win the Indiana primary race with 63 percent of the votes counted.
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 3, 8:47 PM EST
After a devastating loss in the Indiana Republican primary race Tuesday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz suspended his presidential campaign. The decision makes front-runner Donald Trump the Republican party’s presumptive nominee.
Cruz said he made the decision with a “heavy heart.”
This is a developing story…
As Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is fond of saying, he is “winning by a lot of delegates” ahead of Indiana’s pivotal primaries. The same measure could be applied to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who also leads her competitor, Bernie Sanders.
Indiana rarely comes into play during presidential primary races because it falls so late on the calendar, but “with multiple candidates still fighting for both the Democratic and Republican nominations, Indiana is more consequential than usual in deciding who advances to the general election this fall,” reports the Los Angeles Times:
Ted Cruz has long angled for a two-man race against Donald Trump. In Indiana, he’s gotten just that — mostly. Looking to blunt the momentum of GOP front-runner Trump, Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich forged an unusual alliance, with Kasich pulling back from campaigning in the state.
After strong victories in five of the last six primary contests, Hillary Clinton has what may be unstoppable momentum in the Democratic race. But her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, isn’t giving up, pledging this week “to fight for every last vote.”
Currently, Clinton has 2,165 delegates of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination, according to Bloomberg Politics. Republicans need 1,237 delegates, and Trump has 996, the report says.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg Politics | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty | VIDEO CREDIT: Inform
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