Trump sweeps five states, Clinton wins four

Ron Kampeas

Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking at a primary night campaign event in Philadelhia, April 26, 2016. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking at a primary night campaign event in Philadelhia, April 26, 2016. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Donald Trump swept five primary contests and Hillary Clinton won four on Tuesday night, consolidating leads that increase the likelihood they will face off against each other in the general election.

Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont vying with Clinton for the Democratic nod, won just one state, Rhode Island, out of the five in play on Tuesday. Clinton won Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Connecticut.

Advisers to Sanders, the first Jewish candidate to win major nominating contests, have said in recent days that the campaign would “reassess” how to go forward following the Tuesday contests, though they maintained that Sanders would remain in the race until the party convention this summer. Clinton for her part reached out to Sanders in her victory speech in Philadelphia Tuesday night.

“I applaud Senator Sanders and his millions of supporters for challenging us to get unaccountable money out of our politics,” she said. “Whether you support Senator Sanders or you support me, there’s much more that unites us than divides us.”

Trump’s strong showing edges him closer to the 1,237 delegates he needs to win a first-round convention vote. The New York Times estimated his overall total as of Tuesday night at 926.

Trump trounced his opponents, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, winning 60 percent or more of the vote in Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Trump took 58 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania and 55 percent in Maryland.

Those margins suggest that the recent alliance of Kasich and Cruz, who hope to deny Trump a majority in the first convention vote by divvying up the remaining states, may be quixotic. Were Trump to lose the first convention vote, delegates would be free to support whomever they choose, enabling Cruz and Kasich to compete for their support in subsequent votes.

In his victory speech, Trump, a billionaire real estate magnate, said the Kasich-Cruz alliance was a sign that both campaigns were flailing.

“It’s collusion,” he said. “People are in jail for collusion, but in politics its different.”

Trump also looked forward to the general election. “We will beat Hillary so easily,” he said.