Donald Trump declared himself the “presumptive nominee” of the Republican Party after he won five Northeastern states in a self-described “massive landslide” that dealt a serious setback to the anti-Trump forces pushing for a contested convention.

Trump romped across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut. His smallest margin of victory was roughly 30 percentage points; he led in two states by about 40 points. As of late Tuesday, Trump led in every single county across all five states. And most crucially, he swept at least 105 of the 118 bound delegates available.


"I consider myself the presumptive nominee, absolutely," the real estate mogul said in his victory speech at Trump Tower in New York. “As far as I am concerned, it’s over,” he declared.

It’s not, at least mathematically. While Trump has more than 75 percent of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination, he must still beat Ted Cruz and John Kasich in the upcoming primaries, most crucially Indiana and California.

But Trump declared himself on an unstoppable path — past his opponents, who he chided as spoilers and sore losers, and through a political system he’s repeatedly decried as rigged.

“The best way to beat the system is to have evenings like this," Trump said.

Trump’s speech also previewed the bare-knuckled brawl that a Trump vs. Hillary Clinton general election would be, ending his 35-minute address and press conference by declaring, "The only card she’s got going is the woman’s card.”

“If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote,” Trump said.

Trump had entered the night with 845 of the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination. He ended with at least 950.

Cruz, who began the evening trailing far behind, with 559 delegates, ended the night mathematically eliminated from winning on the first ballot at the national convention. Kasich, with only 148 delegates, was eliminated long ago.

Trump’s dominance Tuesday was thorough.

In Maryland, Trump won “very conservative” voters — the group that has been the mainstay of Cruz’s support — 52 percent to 36 percent, according to exit polls. He carried 50 percent of “very conservative” voters in Connecticut, to Cruz’s 32 percent. And in Pennsylvania, Trump crushed Cruz among evangelical voters, 57 percent to 30 percent.

He won every bound delegate available in Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

And in Pennsylvania, where 54 unbound delegates were elected directly at the ballot box, Trump looked to pad his lead, with Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute counting 27 Trump supporters among the leaders. Many delegate candidates have informally pledged themselves to the winner of their districts, which was Trump across the state.

With his wins, he called on the GOP to unite around him. “We should heal the Republican Party,” Trump said.

But his opponents showed no signs of giving up. Anticipating Trump’s big night Tuesday, Kasich and Cruz struck a surprise deal over the weekend in which Kasich promised not to campaign in Indiana, which votes next week, and Cruz vowed not to compete in Oregon and New Mexico.

While Kasich suffered another miserable primary night, his campaign pledged that he would trudge onward. “Never wavering from his commitment to a campaign focused on optimism and strength, John Kasich will continue making his supporters proud,” his team tweeted.

Cruz has already been in Indiana for days. “Tonight this campaign moves back to Indiana,” Cruz said at a rally as the polls closed and before the depth of his losses was apparent. He finished third in four of the five states.

Trump’s string of wins came at a tumultuous time for his campaign, which has been riven with internal strife since Paul Manafort was hired as his convention manager and quickly seized power and control from Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s original campaign manager.

Manafort has tried to professionalize an operation that had been losing to Cruz in the battle for individual delegates even while winning states. Manafort hired Rick Wiley, Scott Walker’s former campaign manager, as political director, and Trump’s old national field director, Stuart Jolly, resigned amid the shake-up.

But Lewandowski, who guided Trump from longshot to frontrunner, has pushed backed against the idea that the campaign needed fixing. “Donald Trump will never change,” Lewandowski said Tuesday afternoon on CNN before the polls closed. “The motto of the campaign has been and continues to be: Let Mr. Trump be Mr. Trump.”

That was apparent in Trump’s election night speech in which he jabbed at Clinton, Cruz and Kasich and wandered far off script, just as he has throughout the campaign.

It’s not clear what Trump’s sweep will mean for Indiana, where polls show the race is tighter. Momentum has proved elusive in the Republican contest so far, ever since Trump came roaring back in New Hampshire following Cruz’s Iowa victory.

Three weeks ago, Cruz hailed his win over Trump in Wisconsin as a “turning point” — but it only marked a turn back in Trump’s direction as the real estate mogul walloped Kasich and Cruz in his home state.

Trump spoke Tuesday like a man who had taken back control of his own political destiny.

"I’m not looking to go second, third, fourth, fifth,” he said, dismissing talk of an open convention and multiple ballots.

He’s looking to win.