Front runners win big in Big Apple; PA up next

Devin Welsh, Staff Writer

After suffering several losses at the hands of Bernie Sanders, New York was a must-win for the Hillary campaign; winning by 16 points, she did just that. The win was big in the sense that it was key in managing Bernie’s momentum and helped further pave the road to the White House, but it didn’t put a lot of distance between the two Democrats.

Hillary walked away with 139 delegates (1452 total pledged delegates), whereas the Vermont Sen. left with 108 (1199 total pledged delegates), just a 21 delegate difference that doesn’t make an enormous difference in the overall primary race. What will matter though are the upcoming primaries on April 26 in both Pennsylvania and Maryland.

For the Democrats, Pennsylvania holds 189 delegates compared to the 95 resting in Maryland. And while 95 delegates is no small amount, both Democratic candidates have already descended upon the eager Keystone electorate. On April 6 , thousands of people lined up to ‘feel the Bern’ at a rally at Temple University. And on April 19, nearly seven thousand people gathered to hear the potential future president speak at Penn State.

Meanwhile, GOP front-runner and political newcomer Donald Trump has taken almost all the delegates that New York had to offer (save for 3 that went to Gov. Kasich) as he managed to secure over 50% of the votes in the Empire State. This could mean trouble for those that are less than excited with the billionaire businessman’s streak of wins.

He walked away with 89 delegates, building to his total of 846 pledged delegates. Currently he is well passed the the halfway mark for the required amount needed to lock in the nomination (1237 delegates). The closer the Donald gets to the nomination, the harder his fellow GOP candidates work to make sure that doesn’t happen.

With the likelihood of a contested Republican convention slipping slowly out of plausibility with every delegate Trump gets, both Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Ted Cruz are going to be campaigning heavily in Pennsylvania in the coming days. Pennsylvania will be a much needed keystone in the campaigns of every candidate running for the office of the nation’s next leader.