NEW YORK CITY, New York — GOP frontrunner Donald Trump strode to the podium in Trump Tower with Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blaring from the speakers as he was declared the winner of the New York GOP primary Tuesday night.
Trump says the race between himself and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for the GOP nomination is pretty much over. Trump argued that is because Cruz is close to “mathematically eliminated” from winning the nomination before a contested convention.
The only candidate who has a realistic chance of securing the GOP nomination before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July is Trump–and that’s a point he looked to drive home in his speech here on Tuesday evening. Ohio Gov. John Kasich is already mathematically barred from winning the nomination outright, and Cruz is almost there.
Trump said:
We don’t have much of a race anymore. Based on what I’m seeing on television, Sen. Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated. We’ve won another state, and as you know we’ve won millions of more votes than Sen. Cruz. Millions and millions more votes than Gov. Kasich. We’ve won and now, especially after tonight, close to 300 more delegates than Sen. Cruz. We’re really, really rocking. We expect we’re going to have an amazing number of weeks [ahead] because these are places [we’ll do well] and they’re in trouble, in big trouble. When you look at Pennsylvania, when you look at Indiana, when you look at Maryland and Rhode Island and so many places—we have problems everywhere you look. We are going to solve those problems.
Trump also praised his team.
“My team has been amazing. It’s a team of unity,” the real estate mogul said. “This has been an incredible evening.”
“We went all over New York state,” he recalled, saying he went to Syracuse and Albany where the average crowd size was 15,000 people. “The people of this country and the people of the state truly are great and amazing people.”
Trump said he’s won millions more votes than Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and 300 more delegates than the Texas senator.
The billionaire also took a swipe at Cruz, referencing Cruz’s recent victories with delegate selections in Colorado and Wyoming. “Nobody should take delegates and claim victory unless they get those delegates with voting,” he jabbed. “The people aren’t going to stand for it,” he said. “It’s really nice” to win delegates with voting, he said.
Trump talked about Pennsylvania, Indiana, Maryland, and other states with primaries in the next several weeks. “We expect we’re going to have an amazing number of weeks because these are places, they’re in big trouble,” he said.
Trump said voters are concerned about the economy and jobs, and that’s “my wheelhouse.”
“We have problems everywhere. We are going to solve those problems.”
He also said he believes he will enter the Republican National Convention in July “as the winner.”
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and financial tycoon Carl Icahn–among other business leaders–attended Trump’s victory celebration.
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