INDIANAPOLIS — (Scroll down for video) – Donald Trump has been projected as the winner of the Republican presidential primary in Indiana, according to exit polls and early returns. Trump’s victory will deal a blow to rival Sen. Ted Cruz and the “#NeverTrump” movement that backed him – and, at last, give the businessman and reality-TV star a clear path to clinching the GOP nomination before the convention.
The Associated Press projected Trump as the winner shortly after the last polling places in Indiana closed, at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
The Democratic primary in Indiana still remains too close to call, but former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was leading Sen. Bernie Sanders in early returns.
Trump’s victory in the Hoosier State could bring him 57 convention delegates, pushing his total over 1,000 and making it likely that Trump will reach the needed 1,237 delegates on the primary campaign’s last day, June 7. It could crush the last hopes of Cruz – a Republican senator from Texas, and the strongest challenger to Trump in this wild, outsider-driven primary season.
Cruz desperately needed a victory in Indiana, both to deny Trump delegates and to prove he could beat the front-runner one-on-one. Even after days of desperate campaigning, Cruz saw this state slip away.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท David Weigel, Anne Gearan, David A. Fahrenthold
