On this election Tuesday, two states cast their primary votes in West Virginia and Nebraska. Of course, there’s no remaining contest on the Republican side, but regardless, Trump is always keen to make a spectacle. He’s not taking a shift to general election mode seriously when there’s much to accomplish before he spars with the eventual Democratic nominee. Hence Trump’s plea for West Virginia to not vote for him and save their voting fingers for next time. That’s quite a show of confidence, but wouldn’t it be something if that request had backfired tonight?
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders came into West Virginia with an advantage over Clinton, who spent the week trying to walk back her comments about putting coal miners out of business. Regardless of tonight’s results, Sanders vows to continue his battle against Hillary Clinton until convention time, where he will contest the nomination. The Bern picked up a few more delegates last week in Indiana but will have to manage landslides for a contested convention to even make sense. Chess pieces still remain on the board throughout this endgame, but there can be only one.
As always, delegates rule this game. On the Republican side, 1237 is the magic number to secure the nomination while Democrats require 2382. Before Tuesday, the delegate counts stood as follows.
Trump: 1071 total delegates
Sanders: 1448 total delegates (1414 pledged and 39 superdelegates)
Clinton: 2228 total delegates (1705 pledged and 523 superdelegates)
Here are Tuesday evening’s primary results.
West Virginia
Democrats: Sanders (50%) beats Clinton (40%). The Bern is still in the race.
Republicans: Trump cruises to an easy win (71%); Cruz (11%) and Kasich (11%) snag a few votes.
Nebraska
Republicans: Trump takes another state (65%); Cruz (15%) and Kasich (11%) still haunt the race.
(Via Real Clear Politics & CNN)