Trump wins; Cruz bows out

Indiana goes for Sanders over Clinton

Ted Cruz leaves the stage Tuesday in Indianapolis after announcing he was dropping out of the Republican presidential race. He was joined by family members, including his daughters at right.
Ted Cruz leaves the stage Tuesday in Indianapolis after announcing he was dropping out of the Republican presidential race. He was joined by family members, including his daughters at right.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Donald Trump soundly defeated Ted Cruz in Tuesday's Indiana GOP primary, prompting the U.S. senator from Texas to drop out of the race as the New York businessman edges closer to securing the party's presidential nomination.

For the Democrats, Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in Indiana, but the U.S. senator from Vermont remains far behind the former secretary of state in the delegate count.

After Tuesday's election, Trump's team gathered at his Trump Tower in New York City to celebrate the victory.

"Ted Cruz -- I don't know if he likes me or he doesn't like me -- but he is one hell of a competitor," Trump said in a victory speech that was much lower-key than his usual speeches. Trump promised to win in November, vowing anew to put "America first."

He praised Cruz as a "smart" and "tough guy" who has an "amazing future" ahead of him.

Trump then turned his attention to Democratic front-runner Clinton and the general election.

"We're going after Hillary Clinton," he said, adding that he thinks she "will be a poor president."

Trump must win about 200 more delegates to clinch the GOP presidential nomination. But his victory in Indiana -- where he picked up at least 45 of the state's 57 delegates -- made it all but impossible for Cruz to block him.

Cheers rose in the Trump Tower's lobby as a television broadcast Cruz's speech announcing that he was leaving the race.

"I've said I would continue on as long as there was a viable path to victory; tonight I'm sorry to say it appears that path has been foreclosed," Cruz told a somber crowd in Indianapolis. "Together, we left it all on the field of Indiana. We gave it everything we've got, but the voters chose another path, and so with a heavy heart but with boundless optimism for the long-term future of our nation, we are suspending our campaign."

Cruz said he would "continue to fight for liberty," but he did not address whether he would support Trump as the party nominee.

Cruz was joined on stage by his parents; by his wife, Heidi; and his chosen running mate, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina.

The U.S. senator from Texas campaigned aggressively in Indiana, but came up short against the businessman from New York. Trump's appeal among voters who are frustrated with Washington and GOP leaders has surprised the Republican Party faithful.

Still in the GOP race is Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has vowed to stay in unless Trump clears the 1,237-delegate threshold. Kasich's chief strategist John Weaver said in a statement Tuesday night that "as long as it remains possible. Gov. Kasich will fight for the higher path."

Weaver added: "Cruz ran a strong campaign, stood for conservative principles, and exposed a lot about Donald Trump."

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AP

Bernie Sanders campaigns with his wife, Jane, Tuesday in Louisville, Ky. He proclaimed his finish in Indiana’s primary a “great upset victory” over Hillary Clinton.

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The New York Times

Hillary Clinton campaigns Tuesday at a brewery in Athens, Ohio. Her aides had hinted at a loss in Indiana, but she was still concentrating on the general election and Donald Trump.

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AP

Donald Trump arrives for a news conference Tuesday at Trump Tower in New York with his wife, Melania (right), and daughter Ivanka.

Sanders touts 'upset'

Sanders, meanwhile, touted his win Tuesday as a "great upset victory" over Clinton and said he expects "more victories in the weeks to come."

"The Clinton campaign thinks this campaign is over. They're wrong," he told reporters. He acknowledged that he has an "uphill climb" to the nomination but said he's "in this campaign to win, and we are going to fight until the last vote is cast." Sanders added that he wants to debate Clinton in California.

"I sense some great victories coming," Sanders said. "And I think while the path is narrow, and I do not deny that for a moment, I think we can pull off one of the great political upsets in the history of the United States."

The Democratic race remains strongly in Clinton's favor. Clinton holds what her campaign and many analysts argue is an irreversible lead in total delegates. Although she has not clinched the party nomination, she has shifted her focus to a likely general election against Trump.

Clinton had been polling well ahead of Sanders in Indiana through last week, but the polls tightened in the closing days to the point where Clinton and her aides telegraphed a possible loss. She made no election night appearance.

"I think we had a good campaign. We ran hard," Clinton said in an MSNBC interview early. But, she said, she was focused instead on the general election, which she sees as a head-to-head between her and Trump.

Previewing Clinton's general election message, her campaign adviser, John Podesta, said Trump was "simply too big of a risk" to be president.

"Throughout this campaign, Donald Trump has demonstrated that he's too divisive and lacks the temperament to lead our nation and the free world," he said.

If she's the party's nominee in November, Clinton needs to win over Sanders' supporters. Sanders has cultivated a loyal following in particular among young people, a group that Democrats are counting on in the general election.

Sanders has conceded that his strategy hinges on persuading superdelegates to back him over Clinton. Superdelegates are Democratic Party leaders and elected officials who can support the candidate of their choice, regardless of how their states vote. So far, they favor Clinton by a nearly 18-1 ration.

Exit polls showed about 7 in 10 Indiana Democrats said they'd be excited or at least optimistic about either a Clinton or Sanders presidency. Most said they would support either in November.

Day of attacks

Trump's win culminated a day of exchanges with Cruz that were hostile and personal, with Trump saying Cruz's father, Rafael, had a link to John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

Cruz responded by calling Trump a "pathological liar," an amoral "narcissist," a proud "serial philanderer," and a "braggadocious, arrogant buffoon."

To shake up the race, Cruz had tried numerous headline-grabbing moves. He has criticized Trump for receiving the endorsement of "convicted rapist" Mike Tyson, who served prison time after the champion boxer was convicted of a sexual attack on a Miss Black America contestant in an Indianapolis hotel room in 1991.

Cruz had vowed to stay in the race through the final primaries in June, clinging to the possibility that Trump would fall short of the 1,237 delegates he needs, and the race would go to a contested convention.

Cruz's campaign hit its peak in February when he resoundingly won the Iowa caucuses. But it soon became a string of losses in states where Cruz expected to do well, including South Carolina and Georgia, followed by large wins in his home state of Texas and in Wisconsin.

Cruz defeated Trump in state conventions where delegates were chosen, such as Colorado, but it was not enough to overcome Trump's strength with the electorate.

With the scale tipping increasingly in Trump's favor, Cruz announced in April a pact with Kasich, in which the two would cooperate, each focusing his time and resources in states where he stood to do better.

Days later, Cruz named Fiorina as his running mate, but that announcement was overshadowed by news that former House Speaker John Boehner, with whom Cruz had clashed on Capitol Hill -- had called Cruz "Lucifer in the flesh."

Cruz won an endorsement from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, but Pence also spoke favorably of Trump. Pro-Trump hecklers confronted Cruz outside one of his events, and Fiorina fell off a campaign stage.

But Cruz stayed positive ahead of the results in Indiana, announcing campaign stops for today in Nebraska and Washington state, where primaries will be held later this month.

In an interview shortly before the polls closed Tuesday, Trump declared the "#NeverTrump" movement over. "I think it's dying a fast death," he said. "Just so you understand, Indiana was their firewall."

Many Republican voters in Indiana said in interviews Tuesday that they supported Trump because they believe that only a businessman can change how government works.

"He's the only candidate who is really going to change the system. Everyone else is in bed with the Republican leadership," said Justin Stinson, 48, a Bloomington software engineer who voted for Trump at a precinct near Indiana University.

Trump now faces pressure to unite a Republican Party that has been roiled by his candidacy.

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, took to Twitter on Tuesday after Cruz suspended his campaign, saying that Trump "will be presumptive GOP nominee, we need to unite and focus on defeating HillaryClinton." He ended his message with the hashtag #NeverClinton.

Even before the Indiana results were finalized, some conservative leaders were planning a meeting today to assess the viability of launching a third-party candidacy to compete with Trump in the fall.

One outside group trying to stop Trump suggested that it would shift its attention to helping Republicans in other races. Rory Cooper, a senior adviser to the Never Trump super political action committee, said the group will help protect "Republican incumbents and down-ballot candidates, by distinguishing their values and principles from that of Trump, and protecting them from a wave election."

Only about half of Indiana's Republican primary voters said they were excited or even optimistic about any of their remaining candidates becoming president, according to exit polls. Still, most said they probably would support whoever wins for the GOP.

The exit polls were conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

A fall showdown between Clinton and Trump would pit one of Democrats' most experienced political figures against a first-time candidate who is divisive within his own party. Cruz and other Republicans have argued that Trump would be roundly defeated in the general election, denying their party the White House for a third-straight term.

Information for this article was contributed by Julie Pace, Scott Bauer, Stephen Ohlemacher, Steve Peoples of The Associated Press; by John McCormick and Mark Niquette of Bloomberg News; and by Sean Sullivan, Katie Zezima, Philip Rucker, Anne Gearan, David A. Fahrenthold, Scott Clement, Karen Tumulty, David Weigel and Jenna Johnson of The Washington Post.

A Section on 05/04/2016

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