US election: Republican race for president now battle to deny Donald Trump
The race for the Republican presidential nomination is a currently a battle to deny Donald Trump an outright victory.
Key points:
- Donald Trumps needs 1,237 delegates between now and July 18 to win
- Currently there are more delegates elected who oppose Mr Trump than support him
- Ted Cruz has used grassroots support in party to pick off delegates
To win, he needs 1,237 delegates between now and July 18, when the convention begins in Cleveland, Ohio. He currently has 845.
This week, he has a few chances to get closer with five states voting. Delaware (16 delegates), Maryland (38) and Pennsylvania (17) are all winner-takes-all contests. Connecticut (28) and Rhode Island (19) are proportional.
Pennsylvania, it should be pointed out, also has 54 "unbound" delegates — meaning they do not have to sign a legally-binding pledge to vote for anyone. (Some have told the ABC they are already being wooed even before the ballot has closed.)
On May 3, a potentially race-changing win for Mr Trump may well be Indiana's 57 winner-takes-all contest.
In a sign of how critical the Trump campaign realises the Hoosier state could be to their chances in July, it was Indianapolis where he flew straight after his victory in New York last week. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie reportedly had a meeting with him there.
On June 7, New Jersey has a primary with 51 winner-take-all delegates.
But then there is also the massive prize of California, which has 172 delegates —10 for the state winner, and then three delegates for each of its 53 districts and three more who are state officials.
Other states with winner-takes-all primaries in May and June are likely to go to Ted Cruz: Nebraska (36), South Dakota (29) and Montana (27).
Mr Trump is also expected to pick up delegates in West Virginia (34), Oregon (28), Washington (44) and New Mexico (24).
But if Mr Trump falls short of 1,237 — even by a tantalizing few dozen votes — many predict he will lose the nomination on a second or third vote at the convention when his delegates and others are no longer obligated to obey their pledge to him or the other candidates.
In an explainer created by the Republican National Committee, the third vote could "free" up as many as 85 per cent of delegates.
As you can see, the importance of wooing only rises.
Currently, there are more delegates elected who oppose Mr Trump than support him: he has 845; Mr Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich share a total of 862.
Senator Cruz (543 delegates) is trailing Mr Trump by such a large extent that he can now only hope to halt the billionaire businessman's advance.
By targeting state conventions, Mr Cruz has used his grassroots support within the party to pick off delegates. In Colorado, he cleaned up, taking 34 delegates.
Mr Trump did not get a single delegate in that contest, after which he lashed out, calling it "a rigged, disgusting, dirty system