Republican US presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton rolled up wins in northeastern states on Tuesday in a major show of strength and immediately turned their fire on each other in a possible preview of a general election matchup.
The New York billionaire easily defeated Ohio Governor John Kasich and US Senator Ted Cruz in all five states that held contests — Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware — with a margin of victory rivaling that of his home state of New York a week ago. He was on a path to winning the vote in every county in each state.
Clinton defeated Senator Bernie Sanders in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Her only loss of the night was to Sanders in Rhode Island.
Photo: AFP
The race now pivots immediately to Indiana, which is shaping up to be Cruz’s best, and perhaps last, chance to slow Trump’s momentum toward the Republican nomination.
If Cruz can win a large share of the state’s 57 delegates on Tuesday next week, it will boost the chances that Trump will not be able to amass the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination before the party’s convention in July. That could give Cruz a shot at convincing delegates to back him for president instead.
A loss to Trump in Indiana would effectively cripple Cruz’s already faltering bid, and increase pressure on the party to rally around Trump as the prospective nominee.
Katie Packer, head of the anti-Trump political-action committee Our Principles, said her organization would be active in the state with “TV, mail, phones, digital, all of it.”
“We’re going to be playing in a lot of different congressional districts,” Packer said.
The Club for Growth, a conservative pro-business group, has bought US$1.5 million worth of anti-Trump TV ads in the state.
Both groups worked to hand Trump a defeat at the hands of Cruz earlier this month in Wisconsin.
“Tonight, this campaign moves back to more favorable terrain,” Cruz said in Knightstown, Indiana, on Tuesday.
Back on the east coast, Trump and Clinton used victory rallies to snipe at each other in the kind of back and forth that will take place should they win their party’s presidential nominations and face off in the general election campaign.
“I think she’s a flawed candidate and she’s going to be easy to beat,” Trump told a news conference at Trump Tower in New York City.
“Frankly if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote,” he said.
Clinton, in Philadelphia, took aim at Trump for accusing her of trying to “play the woman card.”
“Well if fighting for women’s healthcare and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the woman card, then deal me in,” she said.
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