With his win projected in Delaware, Donald Trump has swept all five northeastern states holding primaries Tuesday. His victory in the Delaware was called by MSNBC and CNN at around 8:30 p.m, after Trump wins were declared in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maryland.
Trump was polling strongly in Delaware and the other mid-Atlantic states hosting primaries Tuesday. He is expected to rack up delegates as the GOP primary makes its final turn towards July’s Republican National Convention.
Delaware offers 16 winner-take-all delegates.
Trump hosted a rally in the state last week. His campaign however become the subject of scrutiny when it was reported that one of Trump’s staffers had been accused of strong-arming Delaware GOP officials over the state party’s delegate selection process.
It is expected that Trump will pick up around 100 delegates with his victories Tuesday, keeping him in on a trajectory to get close to the 1,237 delegate threshold required to win the nomination before the convention, if not over it. The GOP race’s next crucial moment is the Indiana primary next week, where 57 delegates will be at stake. The pressure will be on Trump’s foes to stop him there or the race will be good as done, election analysts have said. The Ted Cruz and John Kasich campaigns even arranged a deal in which the Ohio governor backed off in the state to give Cruz a boost.