Today [Tuesday, April 26] voters will take to the polls in the states of Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and Delaware. For Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, this means the opportunity to score some pretty big wins, further widening the gap between themselves and their opponents.
On the Republican side of things, Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich will be trying to stay afloat until July’s convention in Cleveland, hoping to keep Trump’s momentum at a minimum.
The two candidates, who are now in a loose alliance primarily focused on stopping Trump, will need to score a few wins here today, or at least rack up a few delegates to stop Trump from steadily moving toward the 1,237 delegates needed before Cleveland.
Bernie Sanders faces a more daunting task as he will be looking for some tangible reason to stay in this race. As Hillary Clinton is expected to either win all but one state or potentially sweep the board, Senator Sanders will be looking to rally an energized base of liberals and young voters to supply him with a few wins that could signal a viable fight to the finish.
“If you come out to vote tomorrow and drag your friends and your aunts and your uncles and your co-workers, we’re going to win here in Pennsylvania,” Sanders said to a crowd of nearly 3,000 at Philadelphia’s Drexel University.
However, history has shown a pattern of Hillary Clinton taking states thanks to the heavily populated urban communities for which they are known. It was Las Vegas in Nevada, NYC in New York, and Chicago in Illinois that pushed her over the edge to victory and pushed Senator Sanders back a few strides.
Sanders popularity, or lack thereof, in urban communities with large African-American and Latino communities is what has continually diminished his chances of winning the race, and today’s states in what many are calling the “Amtrak Primary,” present the same obstacle.
