Donald Trump swept the April 26 Republican primaries. (Getty)
April 26 was a huge night for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut primaries all went to Trump within minutes on the Republican side, with Hillary Clinton taking Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, and Connecticut.
Clinton notches her second win of the night, CNN projects t.co/ud3Wy2I4r0 #PrimaryDay t.co/klWNOY8GWZ
Tuesday’s races put the delegate counts even more in the favor of the favorites. While Bernie Sanders desperately needed wins as the race draws to a close, the NeverTrump faction of the Republican Party was hoping either of the Republican challengers, Ted Cruz or John Kasich, could put up enough of a fight to keep Trump away from that magic number of 1,237 delegates, which would put the nomination completely beyond their control.
| Republican Delegate Count | 1,237 Needed |
| Donald Trump | 927 |
| Ted Cruz | 559 |
| John Kasich | 148 |
As Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight noted on primary night, this puts Trump within 30 of their delegate targets for the entire race. With a fractured popular vote giving him easy wins, that’s well within his reach in uncommitted delegates.
Meanwhile, Clinton had been looking to finally put away Sanders after months of having the Senator in “only mostly dead” territory. Sanders is still mathematically alive, and Clinton didn’t quite manage Trump’s performance, but tonight’s results paint Sanders even further into his corner:
| Democratic Delegate Count (2,383 Needed) | Pledged Delegates | All Delegates |
| Hillary Clinton | 1,622 | 2,141 |
| Bernie Sanders | 1,282 | 1,321 |
Clinton is now well ahead of her FiveThirtyEight delegate targets, and less than 250 from a number that would clinch the nomination. With Sanders shifting his strategy to swaying superdelegates, these results are a huge blow, as Democratic delegates are unlikely to switch to the much less successful campaign.
