Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton scored significant victories last night in a huge day for 2016 primaries.
Trump made a clean sweep – scoring victories in all five states that voted: Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In each state Trump scored almost, or over, 60% of the vote. John Kasich came in second one very state but Pennsylvania, where Ted Cruz narrowly scored second place.
Hillary Clinton scored big in four out of five states. In Delaware she beat Sanders by 60% to 40%, in Maryland she won with 63% of the vote, and in Pennsylvania she won with 55% of the vote. Connecticut was a close race, with Clinton only winning by 5%.
Bernie Sanders won Rhode Island, his only victory of the night with 55% of the vote.
Sanders made a speech shortly after the polls closed, blaming his losses on closed primaries, which do not allow independent voters from participating. Every one of the four states he lost in had closed primaries. Rhode Island, his only win, allowed independent voters. Sanders has previously done well in open primary states.
The Vermont senator said: “In a general election, Democrat, independent, Republican, has the right to vote for president. The elections are not closed primaries. Those folks and independents all over this country will be voting in November for the next president of the United States. And in most cases, we win the independent vote by a 2-1 margin.”
Although he suffered a huge defeat last night, Sanders presses on, insisting that it is still not yet time to reevaluate his campaign.
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