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Donald Trump gestures to the crowd during a rally at The Palladium in Carmel, Ind., on May 2. | AP Photo Democrats celebrate Trump's win, Cruz's demise

Democrats began celebrating immediately Tuesday night after Ted Cruz announced he was dropping out of the 2016 presidential race, calling Donald Trump the GOP nominee and predicting he would doom the party in the fall.

"Donald Trump is a reflection of the modern-day Republican Party, born in 2010 with the launch of the Tea Party and expanded to include exclusionary policies that seek to divide our country, one against another," Guy Cecil, the chief strategist of the pro-Hillary Clinton Priorities USA super PAC, said in a statement.

"The Trump Republican Party scapegoats Latinos and African Americans, demeans women, marginalizes LGBT Americans, embraces climate change deniers, and does nothing to raise wages for those who have waited too long to reclaim the American dream."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee worked to tie Trump to Republican Senate candidates.

"If Republican Senate incumbents and candidates were tired of answering whether they'd support Donald Trump should he win the nomination, we have some bad news," DSCC communications director Sadie Weiner said in a statement.

"Tonight’s results bring him closer than ever before, and the Republican down ballot candidates should get used to questions like: Are women in office only because of their 'woman card'? What kind of punishment should the government impose on women who get abortions? Do you agree that Muslims should be banned from entering the United States? Do you agree that immigrants from Mexico are rapists and criminals? These are the issues that will hound candidates in the Party of Trump, starting with Todd Young."

Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, running for U.S. Senate, was more direct in his brief statement: "Here are the 5 words that are striking fear into Senator Rob Portman: presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump."

In Nevada, Democratic Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto linked Trump to Republican Senate candidates Sharron Angle and Rep. Joe Heck, saying they share positions on President Obama's efforts to shield certain undocumented immigrants from deportation.

"Congratulations, Sharron Angle and Congressman Heck. With Donald Trump becoming your Party’s presumptive nominee, your shared goal of ending DACA and DAPA just became the defacto position of the Republican Party," Masto spokesman Zach Hudson said in a statement.