Trump, Clinton snare wins in New York

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Tonight’s victories propel the presidential front-runners closer to their parties’ respective nominations

UPDATE: The Associated Press has declared Hillary Clinton the victor of the New York Democratic presidential primary.

Clinton initially was projected to win but the last opinion poll gathered before tonight’s vote showed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had closed the gap between them. Both Clinton and Sanders have strong ties to New York, with Clinton serving as the state’s U.S. senator for eight years and Sanders being born in Brooklyn.

Party officials will not know how many delegates Clinton will get from her win until all the votes are counted. But before tonight’s primary, the former secretary of state had 1,292 delegates to Sanders’ 1,042. When including superdelegates, the Associated Press count had Clinton at 1,761 and Sanders at 1,073.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (9:25 p.m.): Minutes after the polls closed in New York, the Associated Press declared Donald Trump the winner of the Republican presidential primary in his home state.

Exit polls showed the billionaire businessman with a wide margin of victory, although few of the actual votes had been counted. Trump was predicted to win by double digits, based on pre-primary opinion polls.

New York is a “winner-take-most” state, with 95 delegates up for grabs. Before polls closed, Trump had 756 delegates, while Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had 559. Ohio Gov. John Kasich had 144. Trump needs 1,237 delegates to secure the party’s nomination at this summer’s convention. Despite tonight’s win, analysts still expect he will have a tough time reaching that magic number.

Trump plans to hold a news conference later tonight in the lobby of Trump Tower, his iconic Manhattan skyscraper. Before polls closed, Cruz dismissed his all-but-certain defeat in New York, chalking up the results to “a politician winning his home state.”

On the Democratic side, both Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., can lay claim to New York, and the race between them is expected to be much closer than among the Republicans. The last poll before tonight’s vote showed them in a virtual tie.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Leigh Jones

Leigh is features editor for WORLD. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate who spent six years as a newspaper reporter in Texas before joining WORLD News Group. Leigh also co-wrote Infinite Monster: Courage, Hope, and Resurrection in the Face of One of America's Largest Hurricanes. She resides with her husband and daughter in Houston, Texas.