NEW YORK — Donald Trump swept primaries in five northeastern states Tuesday in a major show of strength that moved the New York billionaire closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination.
Trump rolled up victories over Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, with a margin of victory rivaling that of his home state of New York a week ago.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, already in control of the Democratic race, defeated her challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
But in a surprise, Sanders was projected to win Rhode Island.
In a speech and news conference at Trump Tower in New York, Trump said it was time for Cruz and Kasich to get out of the Republican race so the party can begin to unify behind him ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.
“I consider myself the presumptive nominee,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, this thing is over.”
For the Republicans, the northeastern battles set the stage for a potentially pivotal primary contest next week in Indiana, where Trump has a small lead and got an endorsement from former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight.
Clinton, in a victory speech in Philadelphia, took aim at Trump for accusing her of trying to “play the woman card” in seeking to become the first female U.S. president.
“Well, if fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the woman card, then deal me in,” she said to cheers.
Although the race remains fluid, Trump’s wins made it less likely that Republicans would choose their nominee at a contested convention in July in Cleveland, an outcome seen by Cruz and Kasich as their only chance at the nomination.
“They should drop out because, frankly, they have no path to victory,” Trump told a Time interviewer at a magazine event in New York honoring influential Americans.
Cruz, already looking ahead to Indiana’s Republican primary on May 3, addressed a crowd in that state just as polls were closing in the northeastern states.
“I got good news for you: Tonight, this campaign moves back to more favorable terrain,” Cruz said in Knightstown, Indiana, inside the high school gymnasium made famous by the underdog movie “Hoosiers.”
An anti-Trump group called #NeverTrump formed by establishment Republicans said Trump’s path to getting the 1,237 delegates he needs for the nomination remained narrow.
“And he just left the most favorable part of the map for him in the Northeast. Moving west, his ability to keep pace becomes more difficult,” the group said.
A total of 118 pledged Republican delegates were at stake in addition to 54 unbound Pennsylvania delegates.
Cruz and Kasich have formed an anti-Trump alliance in an effort to stop him from reaching a first-ballot victory at the July convention.
Clinton’s strong showing in the Democratic race added to the pressure on Sanders to get out of the race or ease his criticism of her.
In her victory speech, Clinton gave a nod to Sanders and spoke of the need for party unity.
“Whether you support Senator Sanders or you support me, there is much more that unites us than divides us,” she said.
Clinton reached out to a wide spectrum of voters, asking for support “if you are a Democrat, an independent or a thoughtful Republican.”
The former secretary of state had an almost insurmountable lead of 275 pledged delegates heading into Tuesday’s contests, and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told reporters he did not think Sanders had a realistic path to winning the nomination.
Sanders, speaking to a big crowd in Huntington, West Virginia, showed no signs of getting out of the race and said he was shedding light on inconvenient truths about how hard life is these days for some Americans.
“The reason that we are generating this enthusiasm is because we are doing something very unusual in contemporary politics. We are telling the truth,” he said.