OLYMPIA — Republican Donald Trump continued his march toward the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a convincing victory in Washington’s presidential primary.
Meanwhile, Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton had a comfortable lead on Bernie Sanders, two months after she was soundly defeated by him in the party caucuses.
Trump, the only GOP candidate still actively campaigning, collected 76.22 percent of the statewide Republican vote in Tuesday’s returns. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz followed with 10.12 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich had 9.85 percent. Cruz and Kasich abandoned their campaigns earlier this month.
In Snohomish County, Trump captured 73.9 percent of the votes tallied Tuesday. Cruz received 10.43 percent and Kasich had 9.83 percent. Snohomish County elections officials will update the vote tally at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The leader of the state Democratic Party wasted no time in attacking Trump.
“Tonight’s coronation of Donald Trump by Washington Republicans was a full embrace of Trump’s agenda and Trump’s deeply offensive behavior,” party chairman Jaxon Ravens said in a statement.
Clinton, who lost by a nearly 3:1 margin in the March caucuses, fared better Tuesday though the results will have no impact on the battle for the nomination.
She garnered 53.63 percent of the Democratic vote statewide Tuesday. And in Snohomish County, Clinton was leading Sanders by 3,300 votes, capturing 52.39 percent to his 47.3 percent.
Nearly 1.3 million people cast ballots in Tuesday’s election even though the final tally will have little or no direct bearing on the eventual nominees for the two major parties. The election is costing roughly $11.5 million to conduct.
The state Republican Party will use the vote tally to allocate its 44 delegates to this summer’s national convention in Cleveland. Trump entered Tuesday in need of roughly 133 pledged delegates to reach the 1,237 required to sew up the nomination outright.
The way the rules are written, Trump should sweep all of the Washington delegates.
Republicans will allot 14 delegates based on the final statewide tally. Candidates receiving at least 20 percent will qualify for a share of those delegates.
The remaining 30 will be distributed on a basis of three delegates per each of the 10 congressional districts. If Trump wins more than half the votes in each of the congressional districts, as it appears he will, he will receive all the available delegates.
As often mentioned, the state Democratic Party will ignore the results because it relies on its caucus process to allot delegates to presidential candidates.
Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, garnered nearly 73 percent in the Democratic Party caucuses March 26. He will receive 74 pledged delegates and Clinton, the former Secretary of State, will get 27 pledged delegates following the party’s congressional district caucuses conducted May 21.
There are another 17 superdelegates who are party and elected leaders. They are technically unpledged. However, several of them, including Gov. Jay Inslee, U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen and Suzan DelBene have already announced they’re backing Clinton.
Supporters of Sanders are pressing the superdelegates to back the Vermont senator based on his caucus performance.
Many hoped Sanders could make a huge showing Tuesday to further bolster their argument.
Not all interested voters participated in Tuesday’s election. Some objected to having to sign an oath of allegiance to one of the parties in order to cast a ballot.
Others didn’t like the idea that their name and party choice would be on a list that Secretary of State Kim Wyman will provide the Republican and Democratic parties once the election results are certified June 10. Their actual vote remains private. The lists are public records that will be available for 22 months.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623;
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