Big win in New York inches Donald Trump closer to Republican presidential nod
Apr 19, 2016, 6:01 PM | Updated: 7:01 pm
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop at the First Niagara Center, Monday, April 18, 2016, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
There may not be a contested Republican National Convention after all.
Donald Trump won in a big way in his home state of New York’s presidential primary on Tuesday, inching him closer to locking up the party’s nomination ahead of the July convention.
Thank you New York! I love you!#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016 pic.twitter.com/T1J0aUwMXl
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2016
Trump closed his New York campaigning with an evening rally in Buffalo, where thousands packed the city’s hockey arena to catch a glimpse of the billionaire businessman.
At the rally, Trump mistakenly mentioned the name of a popular convenience store chain in place of 9/11.
“It’s very close to my heart because I was down there, and I watched our police and our firemen down at 7/11, down at the World Trade Center right after it came down, and I saw the greatest people I’ve ever seen in action,” Trump told the crowd.
Trump spent the past week emphasizing his ties to New York, particularly New York City, where he was born and where buildings bear his name.
“We love this city,” he said Monday in brief remarks to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower. “You look at the other folks that are running, they couldn’t care less about New York.”
Trump’s big win will likely slightly deflate rival Ted Cruz, who has been quietly positioning himself to go head-to-head with the New York billionaire in a contested convention.
Going into Tuesday, Cruz would have been thrilled to scrape together a third of New York’s delegates. He had already moved on to campaign in Maryland, which holds its primary next week.
But that doesn’t mean he was quiet. His campaign is mastering the complicated process of lining up individual delegates who could shift their support to the Texas senator after the first round of convention balloting.
The other Republican candidate, John Kasich, figured slightly in the New York primary. Like Cruz, he campaigned in Maryland on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
