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WASHINGTON – As of this morning according to the Associated Press Donald J. Trump, the billionaire, New York businessman has now nailed down the necessary number of delegates to clinch the Republican nomination, With both Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich out of the race since Wisconsin, Trump had been racking up the wins, putting him very close to clinching the nomination.
Coming into this week Trump was fewer than 100 delegates away from the necessary 1,237 delegates needed to win the GOP party’s nomination. Then early this morning a review by the Associated Press delegate tracker, showed that the New York businessman had secured the nomination by a single delegate, having a new tally of 1,238.
Trump is still having 303 delegates at stake in five state primaries on June 7, he will easily pad his total, avoiding a contested convention in Cleveland in July. Trump was put over the top in the Associated Press delegate count by a small number of the party’s unbound delegates who told the AP they would support him at the convention. Among them is Oklahoma GOP chairwoman Pam Pollard.
“I think he has touched a part of our electorate that doesn’t like where our country is,” Pollard said. “I have no problem supporting Mr. Trump.”
Trump launched his outsider campaign on June 16 last year and knocked off 16 GOP rivals in his bid to secure the nomination. He has since moved to shore up support among Republicans, but deep reservations remain in parts of the party given the candidate’s penchant for jabbing at critics.
Trump, a political neophyte who for years delivered caustic commentary on the state of the nation from the sidelines but had never run for office, fought off all other other Republican contenders in an often ugly primary race.
Many on the right have been slow to warm to Trump, wary of his conservative bona fides. Others worry about Trump’s crass personality and the lewd comments he’s made about women.
