NEW YORK: Billionaire Donald Trump and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton won sweeping victories in the New York primary on Tuesday, galvanizing their bids to win the Republican and Democratic nominations for the White House.
It was the most decisive New York primary in decades and leaves self-styled democratic socialist Bernie Sanders with a tough decision on how to proceed as Clinton extends her overwhelming lead in the Democratic race, APP reported.
US networks called the race for Trump seconds after the polls closed, signaling a crushing victory that is likely to alarm his opponents desperately hoping to block his path to the nomination with a contested party convention in July.
“To the people that know me the best — the people of New York — when they give us this kind of a vote it’s just incredible,” a delighted businessman told a victory party flanked by his family.
Trump, whose campaign has appalled the Republican establishment, won 60 percent of the vote to 14.9 for his evangelical rival Ted Cruz and 25 for Ohio Governor John Kasich, with more than two thirds of the vote counted CNN said.
“Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated,” declared the 69-year-old to cheers and applause from supporters at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
The Texas Senator, who has projected himself as the only Republican capable of beating Trump, is widely disliked across the state for insulting New York’s supposedly non-conservative values earlier in the campaign.
