Donald Trump is the only candidate with a mathematical chance of winning the GOP presidential nomination on a first ballot in July in the wake of the shut-out of Ted Cruz in the New York primary, Associated Press calculated.
Trump added at least 89 delegates to his total, which AP estimates now to be 845. Cruz, who earned no New York delegates, is at 559. while John Kasich, who won at least 3 Tuesday, has 147. Republican rules require 1,237 delegates to win it's nomination.
AP reported Wednesday morning:
There aren't enough delegates left in future contests for either Cruz or Kasich to reach the 1,237 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination. Their only hope is to block Trump and force a contested convention.
Trump appears ready to leave Cruz behind and focus on Hillary Clinton, whose big New York win over Bernie Sanders made it much more likely that she would be the Democratic nominee.
But Cruz says Trump's declaration just shows he's "terrified."
"Everyone knew Donald was going to win his home state," Cruz said. He says Trump's refusal to debate him before next week's primary in Pennsylvania is evidence of Trump's fear.
Ted Cruz is mathematically out of winning the race. Now all he can do is be a spoiler, never a nice thing to do. I will beat Hillary!
-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2016
Donald J. Trump #Landslide VICTORY speech from Trump Tower in #NYC. #Trump2016 #TrumpTrain #ThankYouNewYork! https://t.co/BIuvwx3Khf
-- Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 20, 2016
