Donald Trump Inches Closer to Nomination
Tuesday night in Washington, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump moved to within two dozen delegates of reaching the number he needs to lock himself into the November general election.
The businessman won 76.2 percent of the vote, while U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)—who suspended his campaign three weeks ago—followed in a distant second at 10.1 percent. Washington has a 20-percent minimum threshold to win any delegates.
In two of the state’s 10 congressional districts, Cruz cracked 11 percent, but in the other eight, he finished with even smaller portions of the vote. That gave Trump 30 bound delegates.
The remaining 14 statewide delegates were allocated proportionately to those who received at least 20 percent. Trump got 11 of those delegates, and the remaining three are unbound according to state GOP rules.
By taking 41 of the 44 available delegates, Trump finished the night just 18 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to secure the nomination. He picked up eight more delegates following the endorsement of the Virgin Islands delegation, which had previously declared itself unbound.
There are more delegates yet to come his way, eventually. Several other states that require reallocation once a candidate suspends his or her campaign have not yet done so. Once they do, that will give Trump about 80 more delegates.
Next Tuesday, there will be 303 more delegates available in the final five states of the Republican primary process. California, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota all have some form of winner-take-all primary, while New Mexico will allocate delegates proportionately.
