Tuesday’s primary elections in five states pose big challenges for Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Bernie Sanders, who are trying to catch front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, respectively.
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Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island all hold Republican and Democratic primaries.
“The media has told us the candidates in this race, the Republican and Democrat, they’re both going to be NY liberals”, Cruz said.
Polls show Trump and Clinton leading in all five of the contests, but the stakes remain high as Trump walks a tightrope in search of the 1237 delegates needed to win the nomination outright, and Clinton looks to – at last – see off the challenge from Bernie Sanders. Despite their alliance, Cruz and Kasich have as much, if not more, to gain from running against each other as they do from running against Trump. Cruz doesn’t have any trips to OR or New Mexico now on his public schedule, but clearly if the Texan decides he needs to pay a visit to New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez ahead of her state’s June 7 primary, Kasich won’t have grounds to complain.
In return, the Kasich camp will back off in Indiana.
The most likely outcome, though?
“It could absolutely backfire on them and really help Trump because he’s been hammering this theme that the system is rigged, the primary system is rigged”, Gailmard said.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump are gearing up for a possible showdown against one another in November’s White House election. “People are in jail for collusion, but in politics it’s different”. Rhode Island (19 delegates) awards its delegates proportionally. Cruz would not compete in New Mexico or Oregon.
While both campaigns have essentially agreed to split Indiana, New Mexico and OR, they have not made any such agreement for any remaining states. In Pennsylvania it was more than 58%, in CT 59% and Maryland 56%.
The latest delegate tally, according to the AP, has Mr. Trump with 845, Mr. Cruz with 559 and Mr. Kasich with 148.
“I’ve never told them not to vote for me”, Kasich said while campaigning in Pennsylvania.
Sanders said Tuesday he plans on staying in the race until at least June 7, when California votes, but he acknowledged his path to winning was “narrow”, in an interview on “New Day”.
But Mr Cruz has been successfully manoeuvring to win over delegates who might side with him.
Speaking at Trump Tower in New York City after polls closed, Trump said he now believes he is the party’s “presumptive nominee” – a phrase normally reserved for candidates who have won a majority of pledged delegates in the race.
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“She’s going to be easy to beat”, Trump said, suggesting Clinton’s political appeal is based on “the woman card”.
