Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets supporters outside a polling station in Chappaqua, N.Y., Ms. Clinton won the New York State primary held on April 19, 2016.Justin Sullivan
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton surged to victory in the New York primary on Tuesday with commanding wins on their home turf that will ease the sting of recent defeats and galvanize their bids to secure the presidential nomination of their respective parties.
Early results indicated that Mr. Trump thumped his fellow Republicans by a margin of more than 30 points, according to CNN, which put his share of the vote at 60 per cent to 25 per cent for Ohio Governor John Kasich and 15 per cent for Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
On Tuesday evening, Mr. Trump exulted in what he called "an incredible day" as he celebrated his win at New York's Trump Tower. "I can think of nowhere I would rather have this victory," he said.
On the Democratic side, Ms. Clinton handily defeated her opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. With two-thirds of the votes counted, Ms. Clinton led Mr. Sanders 58 per cent to 42 per cent.
In a speech, Ms. Clinton thanked her supporters in personal terms. "New Yorkers, you've always had my back – and I've always tried to have yours," she said. "The race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch and victory is in sight."
Tuesday's vote brought to a close one of the most unusual New York primaries in memory. For two straight weeks, presidential candidates lavished time and attention on a state that they usually visit in order to raise money, not to win votes.
But this time, the nominating contests in both parties have proved long and unsettled, which means New York's voters – and delegates – were critical. One tabloid headline Tuesday morning summed it up by quoting the famous Frank Sinatra tune: "It's up to you, New York!"
For Ms. Clinton, Tuesday's victory is pivotal. It breaks the momentum Mr. Sanders had generated with a series of wins in smaller states, victories that made Ms. Clinton's supporters uneasy even as they failed to make a significant dent in her delegate lead.
With a win in New York, Ms. Clinton will extend her advantage over Mr. Sanders. Her surrogates can argue – convincingly – that the gap between the candidates is now insurmountable and Ms. Clinton should turn her attention toward the general election and Mr. Trump.
In her victory speech on Tuesday evening, Ms. Clinton reached out to Mr. Sanders's voters, many of them young and fervent. To "all the people who supported Senator Sanders – I believe there is much more that unites us than divides us," she said.
Meanwhile, for Mr. Trump, each delegate is now essential. He needed a resounding victory in New York in order to keep alive his chances of crossing the threshold of 1,237 delegates required to win the Republican nomination. Early results indicate that Mr. Trump may have won nearly all of the 95 delegates up for grabs in the New York Republican primary, which are awarded both on the basis of district and statewide voting.
The next round of primary contests, on April 26, feature a handful of eastern coastal states – Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware and Maryland – where Mr. Trump is also expected to perform well.
In recent weeks, as the candidates campaigned and ate their way across New York State, a separate and fierce contest has unfolded among Mr. Trump, Ms. Clinton and Mr. Sanders, all of whom have sought to emphasize their quintessential New York-ness.
After all, Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders are native sons, the former born in Queens and the latter in Brooklyn. Ms. Clinton, meanwhile, is an adopted daughter who has lived in the state since 1999 and served as its senator for eight years.
Mr. Trump talked to voters about the summers he spent working for his father on Staten Island as a teenager. Mr. Sanders reminisced about games of "punch ball" played in the streets in front of his childhood home. Ms. Clinton showed her familiarity with New York pastimes – dancing the merengue at a neighbourhood party, playing dominoes with senior citizens and paying a visit to an iconic purveyor of cheesecake.
At a polling station inside a high school in Harlem early Tuesday morning, New Yorkers debated the degree to which they should be swayed by appeals to hometown pride. "Yes, she was our senator, I get it," Rashawn Dye, 24, said of Ms. Clinton. "At the end of the day, she doesn't represent what most New Yorkers care about. She's more of the same."
Nicole Press, a 32-year-old stage manager, exited the polling station and unzipped her sweatshirt to reveal a selection of campaign buttons for Mr. Sanders. "In a completely biased way, Bernie sounds just like my grandfather," she said. "But I don't think the home state matters – it's what's best for the American people that matters."
A few minutes later, James Miller, a lawyer who lives nearby, arrived at the high school carrying his toddler daughter who will turn 2 next month. For him, the most important criterion was finding the candidate who would represent continuity with the policies of President Barack Obama – and that led him to support Ms. Clinton.
He added that he's ready for things to calm down after the hectic politicking of recent weeks. "I don't envy the folks in Iowa," Mr. Miller, 34, said. "The attention was nice, but it was quite a spotlight."
In heavily Democratic New York City, registered Republicans are rare but not impossible to find. In Staten Island, a 35-year old law student discussed his political views on the condition that his name not be published. He had just cast his vote for Mr. Trump in a nearby church.
"I'm not happy with the last eight years," he said with anger. "I'm sick of politicians who criticize America. [Mr. Trump] loves this country. He's also not politically correct and I like that."