Trump needs just 287 more delegates to clinch GOP nomination

Donald Trump needs to win less than 300 more delegates in the remaining GOP contests to clinch the Republican presidential nomination and avoid a contested convention.

According to projections by the Associated Press, Trump has 950 delegates after winning five states on Tuesday night. That brings him much closer tot he 1,237 threshold needed to avoid a contested convention. 

{mosads}The crushing victories, in which Trump beat expectations, were enough for the frontrunner to call on rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich to exit the race. 

Indiana on May 3 awards 57 delegates to the winner of its primary: 30 to the statewide winner and the remaining proportionally by congressional district. California on June 7 will award just 10 delegates to the statewide winner, with three delegates awarded winner-take-all in each of its 53 congressional districts.  

Trump’s wins on Tuesday had political observers agreeing with the business mogul that the race may be nearing an end.

“I think we’re going to look back on tonight and say it was the beginning of the end of this primary battle, because Trump is doing a whole heck of a lot better than anybody projected he would do on this night just five weeks ago,” MSNBC’s Chuck Todd said during Tuesday night’s election coverage. 

“This is, I think, turning into Trump having now not just a narrow path, but a clear path to this nomination if these numbers are holding.”

The AP projected Trump would take all 28 delegates from Connecticut, all 16 delegates from Delaware, 35 of the 38 Maryland delegates, and nine of the 19 Rhode Island delegates as of 11:30 p.m.  

He also won all 17 of Pennsylvania’s at-large delegates, but the remaining 54 are directly elected by voters in each congressional district.

MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki predicted that 33 delegates favorable to Trump would win, with 14 to be divided between Cruz and Kasich. Some of those delegates pledged to support a particular candidate, and many pledged to support the winner of their congressional districts.  

The remaining will go to the convention unbound as wild cards, along with about 100 other unbound delegates.

Cruz and Kasich are mathematically unable to win the majority of delegates before July, but hope to still keep Trump from winning 1,237.

Both believe they can wrestle delegates away from Trump at a contested convention where the nominee is decided on multiple ballots.

The results on Tuesday were dismal for both men.

Cruz won one delegate from Rhode Island, and Kasich won five from the state. The remaining Maryland delegates have not yet been allocated.