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Trump considers himself ‘presumptive nominee’

ABC

ABC

Donald Trump has swept primaries in five US northeastern states in a major show of strength that moved the New York billionaire closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump rolled up victories over rivals John Kasich and Ted Cruz in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, with a margin of victory rivalling that in his home state of New York a week ago.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, already in control of the Democratic race, defeated challenger Bernie Sanders in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

•  Republican rivals defend ‘anti-Trump’ pact
• Trump, Clinton win New York primaries

But in a surprise, Sanders was projected to have won Rhode Island.

In a speech and news conference at Trump Tower in New York, Trump said it was time for Cruz and Kasich to get out of the Republican race so the party can begin to unify behind him ahead of the November 8 presidential election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

“I consider myself the presumptive nominee,” he said, adding later: “As far as I’m concerned, this thing is over.”

For the Republicans, the northeastern battles set the stage for a potentially pivotal primary contest next week in Indiana, where Trump has a small lead and received an endorsement from former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight.

Hilary Clinton scored further primary wins in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Conneticut.

Hilary Clinton scored further primary wins in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Conneticut. Photo: ABC

Although the race remains fluid, Trump’s wins made it less likely that Republicans would choose their nominee at a contested convention in July in Cleveland, an outcome seen by Cruz and Kasich as their only chance at the nomination.

“They should drop out because frankly they have no path to victory,” Trump told a Time interviewer at a magazine event in New York.

Cruz, already looking ahead to Indiana’s Republican primary on May 3, addressed a crowd in that state just as polls were closing in the northeastern states.

“I got good news for you: Tonight, this campaign moves back to more favourable terrain,” the US senator from Texas said in Knightstown, Indiana.

Clinton’s strong showing in the Democratic race added to the pressure on Sanders to get out of the race or ease his criticism of her.

In her victory speech, Clinton gave a nod to Sanders and spoke of the need for party unity.

“Whether you support Senator Sanders or you support me, there is much more that unites us than divides us,” she said.

Clinton reached out to a wide spectrum of voters, asking for support “if you are a Democrat, an independent or a thoughtful Republican”.

Sanders, speaking to a big crowd in Huntington, West Virginia, showed no signs of getting out of the race and said he was shedding light on inconvenient truths about how hard life was these days for many people.

“The reason that we are generating this enthusiasm is because we are doing something very unusual in contemporary politics. We are telling the truth,” he said.

Sanders told The Associated Press on Tuesday his campaign had a “very narrow path and we’re going to have to win some big victories”.

He said California’s primary in June is “very important to us” and he thinks every voter should have “the right to vote for whom they want to see as president of the United States”.

Even though his campaign is trailing Clinton, Sanders said “we are going to fight for every delegate” to the Democratic convention to influence the party’s agenda.

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