Facing no active opposition, Donald Trump on Wednesday cruised to victory in the Washington state primary and is just one step away from clinching the Republican presidential nomination to set up a likely clash with Hillary Clinton in the November polls.
The win in Washington state where he received 76.2 per cent of the total votes polled brought him less than 10 delegates shy of clinching the nomination.
The victory – winning at least 40 of Washington’s delegates – means 69-year-old Trump now has 1,229 of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination, according to CNN estimates.
Four more Washington delegates are still to be decided, potentially boosting the real estate tycoon’s total even higher.
In the primary, Trump garnered over 76 percent of the vote as Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich each earned 10 percent of the vote, while retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson earned 4 percent of the vote.
Washington did not have enough delegates to put him over the line. However, its results do, however, leave him inches short of it with a slate of contests on June 7 in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, Montana and South Dakota sure to seal the deal.
Trump’s victory, however, was overshadowed by the clashes between anti-Trump protesters and police outside his event in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Protesters broke through police barricades, lit fires and threw rocks at the city’s convention centre, smashing one door.
Trump’s rally in New Mexico turned violent as anti-Trump demonstrators clashed with police, hurling rocks and burning clothes at officers, the latest scuffle to hit the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s campaign.
The “unlawful assembly” went on rampage, lighted fires and threw rocks at the police officers and their horses outside Trump’s rally at a convention centre in New Mexico’s Albuquerque as police resorted to launch smoke to disperse the violent crowd which overturned barricades and hurled rocks.
The protesters disrupted 69-year-old New York-based real estate tycoon’s speech several times yesterday. Most of the protesters were escorted out one by one.
“Go ahead, get them out of here,” Trump told one of them.
However, the police had a tough time in controlling the demonstrators who were protesting against the policies and rhetorics of Trump.
Some taunted police and jumped on police vehicles.
Officers in riot gear and on police horses moved the protesters away from the convention centre as anti-Trump chants rang through the city’s streets.
Trump is the only Republican candidate left in the race to the White House from the Republican party, which was crowded with as many as 17 candidates at the start of the primary season early this year.
On the other hand, the race to the White House in the Democratic party which had just three candidates at the start of this year, is still open.
While 68-year-old Clinton is likely to clinch the nomination because of the lead she has in delegate count, her opponent Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont has refused to call off the race till the last vote in the primary election is cast.
Campaigning in California, Sanders told his supporters that he would not let Trump become the US President.
Sanders’ campaign yesterday released a new television spot that will run in California ahead of the state’s 7 June primary election.
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