Donald Trump wins Illinois
Republican front-runner Donald Trump scored an easy victory in Illinois’ presidential primary Tuesday as he also picked up wins in Florida and North Carolina to add to his national delegate lead.
With 93 percent of the state’s precincts reporting, Trump had 39 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had 31 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich had 20 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had 9 percent.
“We’re leading by a lot” in Illinois, Trump told supporters at his Mar-A-Largo Club resort victory celebration in Palm Beach, Fla.
“The fact is we have to bring our party together. We have to bring it together,” said Trump, who called his transformation of the Republican Party “the biggest political story in the world.”
“There is great anger. Believe me, there is great anger,” Trump said. But his supporters, he said, are “not angry people. They want to see the country properly run.”
Trump’s victory in Illinois came despite millions of dollars in outside opposition TV advertising against him, including from a Rubio-aligned super political action committee and another super PAC seeded with money from Marlene Ricketts, the matriarch of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs.
Trump captured all 99 delegates in Florida and at least 15 of Illinois’ 69 delegates. He was expected to gain many of the 54 delegates directly elected from each of Illinois’ 18 congressional districts.
Missouri remained too close to decide a GOP winner. But Kasich claimed a must-win victory in his home state Ohio and collected its 66 delegates.
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