Indiana primaries: Bernie Sanders wins Democratic, Donald Trump wins Republican

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Winners of the Indiana primary: Donald Trump (left) and Bernie Sanders (right)

On Tuesday, Indiana held its Democratic and Republican primaries, where voters could vote for the candidate of their choice and presidential candidates can earn delegates so they can move on to the US general presidential election. The results: Donald Trump obtained 51 of the 57 Republican delegates, while on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders obtained at least 42 of the state's 83 pledged Democratic delegates; the Democratic party also has unpledged superdelegates who are free to vote as they choose.

Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, now needs only 200 more delegates for the Republican nomination. On the Democratic side, despite Sanders's win, Hillary Clinton still has 92% of the delegates she needs for the Democratic nomination. Sanders said, "the Clinton campaign thinks this campaign is over. They're wrong."

Ted Cruz's poor performance has caused him to suspend his campaign. "Tonight I'm sorry to say it appears that path [to victory] has been foreclosed," Cruz said. Yesterday, John Kasich also suspended his campaign. This makes Donald Trump the presumptive Republican nominee. Additionally, some conservative groups who oppose Donald Trump are reportedly considering having a third-party candidate run against him in the general election.

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders celebrated his Indiana win. "The world has changed[...] More and more people are independents and I think it makes no sense for the Democrats to say to those people, ‘You can’t help us.’ For Democrats to do well in a national election, they’re going to need a lot of independents and I would not think it’s a good idea to push those people away," Sanders said, complementing Indiana's open primaries. However, in order to secure the nomination, Bernie Sanders would need 66% of the Democratic Party's remaining pledged delegates.


Sources