Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won New York’s Republican and Democratic primaries, respectively.
Clinton and Trump hoped to do more than win New York by wide margins Tuesday night. They aimed to show that if they can make it there, they’ll make it anywhere.
Trump didn’t hesitate to make this argument in his victory speech. His remarks were subdued. He referred to his main Republican primary opponent as “Senator Cruz,” not “Lyin’ Ted.” He complained about the rigged process, but in a disciplined way rather than with blanket cheating accusations.
“It’s really nice to win the delegates with the votes,” he declared, later adding, “Nobody should be given delegates.” He slammed the Democrats’ use of superdelegates but said the Republicans’ process was even worse.
On Tuesday night, Trump certainly won delegates. He took 89 of the 95 that were in play in New York while Ted Cruz was shut out. Trump also won 60 percent of the popular vote and carried all but one congressional district.
“This is your win,” Clinton tweeted to her volunteers and supporters in New York. “Thank you.”
The two both stake strong claims to the state. While Trump has been a major player in the New York real estate market for decades, Clinton represented the Empire State in the U.S. Senate for eight years. Both enjoy large leads in the polls.
But both the Republican and Democratic front-runners are coming off a rough stretch. Trump not only lost the Wisconsin primary to Cruz, but has watched the Texas senator out-hustle him in caucuses and even swipe delegates in states where Trump has won. That’s what brought on Trump’s comments that the voters should decide who wins the delegates, not people playing by rules he claims were crafted to benefit party insiders.
Since Marco Rubio dropped out of the presidential race, Cruz has won more delegates than Trump. Moreover, many delegates who will be formally bound to Trump on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention may be more loyal to Cruz than the brash billionaire.
Clinton has lost eight of the last nine states that have voted in the Democratic presidential contest to Sanders. She has also watched her national lead evaporate into a near-tie with the Vermont senator.
Yet Clinton still has a commanding lead in delegates. She is helped by the fact that Democrats allow a large number of party leaders to serve as delegates and vote for a candidate of their choosing rather than the winner of their local primary or caucus. Her lead in pledged delegates is partly protected by the Democrats’ policy of allocating delegates proportionally.
So even if the Brooklyn-born Sanders had somehow upset Clinton in New York, it would have ben hard for him to catch up because he won’t sweep all the delegates. Sanders loss halted his recent momentum and made it even harder for him to win at the Democratic National Convention.
The Clinton campaign has repeatedly criticized Sanders and his surrogates’ tone, urging them to dial back their attacks on the Democratic front-runner as she heads toward the nomination in order to strengthen the party’s position in November.
Trump is on shakier ground than. It is still unclear whether he will win the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination on the first ballot. If he fails to do so, Cruz’s recent delegate-gathering strategy could become a major problem for the real estate developer on subsequent ballots.
New York could be the beginning of a Northeastern winning streak that puts more distance between Trump and Cruz in the delegate count, improving the front-runner’s chances of going to the convention in Cleveland with a majority or near-majority.
Cruz didn’t do himself any favors in New York with his attack on “New York values.” He bombed at the state GOP gala dinner. He finished behind John Kasich. The Ohio governor has so far only won his home state, so showing he could be a better bet than Cruz in the Northeast will be a major pro-Kasich talking point and could also win him some support from strategic anti-Trump voters in the region’s upcoming contests.
New York handed out 14 delegates proportionally based on the statewide result. Trump won them all by exceeding 50 percent of the vote. He repeated this feat in all but three congressional districts, taking their delegates. But Kasich narrowly beat him in one district and held him below 50 percent of the vote in two more, preventing a Trump clean sweep.
Trump did as well as expected in blue-collar conservative strongholds like Staten Island. But he also managed a broad enough victory to maximize his New York delegate take.
The billionaire wants to make the most of this favorable period in the primary calendar. This also comes as Trump is toning down his comments to the media and rolling out a more professional campaign operation. Cruz, meanwhile, will shift his attention toward Pennsylvania’s unbound delegates.
If the other Republican presidential candidates have been ineffective at campaigning against Trump in New York, Clinton has wasted no time attacking him in ads. This allows her to both hone her message for the general election and also motivate minority voters to turn out in the Democratic primary to choose her over Sanders.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has helped boost Clinton over Sanders among progressives. But his help hasn’t been without controversy. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also campaigned for Clinton.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been reluctant to associate himself with everything Trump’s campaign does, but he has endorsed his old friend and urged the GOP to help him to 1,237 even if he just gets close.
Giuliani hoped to run against Clinton for Senate in 2000 or for president in 2008. It didn’t happen either time. If New York gets its way, voters will get to see Trump and Clinton get the opportunity to square off in a general election instead.
