Voters cast ballots in five northeastern states Tuesday, with frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both looking to overwhelm their respective Democratic and Republican rivals in the race for the White House.
A very strong showing in primaries in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island would Clinton on the cusp of Democratic victory, a monumental step in her quest to become the nation’s first female commander in chief.
“I don’t have the nomination yet,” the former secretary of state said in a town hall event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s largest city, on the eve of the vote.
“We’re going to work really hard until the polls close tomorrow.”
Trump also was expected to extend his formidable lead in the bruising race for the Republican nomination, even as rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich mounted a hasty, and already fraying tag team effort to try to block him.
Kasich agreed to forego campaigning in Indiana, a winner-take-all state that votes May 3, and Cruz will return the favor later in New Mexico and Oregon.
But within hours of the surprise deal, the Ohio governor was already playing it down, saying he was not telling his supporters in Indiana not to vote for him. “What’s the big deal?” he said.