Donald Trump Wins New Mexico Republican Primary

To the surprise of no one, Donald Trump won the New Mexico Republican primary, CNN is projecting in what was essentially just a formality after he became the presumptive GOP nominee.

Any thoughts or hopes of a protest vote were quickly dashed soon after polls closed.

Trump, in a speech shortly after polls began to close across the country, read from a teleprompter and appeared more muted than usual. He took shots at the Clintons and trade, saying that he would give a much more in-depth speech about his presumptive general election opponent.

Original story below:

Donald Trump has essentially won the Republican nomination for president. So in that sense, the New Mexico GOP primary won’t have much of an impact in the bigger picture.

But voters in New Mexico — and in five other states on Tuesday — could still send a message that they reject Trump and the harsh rhetoric that he has unleashed on the campaign trail. And in that sense, the vote would be very significant.

Polls are open in New Mexico from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. New Mexico voters can find their polling place here. Voters must have been registered with their party by May 10 to vote in the primary.

• Check back with Patch as soon as polls close for complete New Mexico Democratic primary results.
• SEE ALSO: New Mexico Democratic Primary Results

If you want to get technical, Trump hasn’t totally clinched the number of delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. Yet.

According to a delegate count from The Associated Press, he has 1,144 delegates who are required to vote for him and 95 unbound delegates who have said they will vote for him. A total of 1,237 delegates are needed to win the nomination and Trump is currently just over that number, making the AP confident enough to call the race for him two weeks ago.

But winning 95 pledged delegates — leaving absolutely no room for error — should be a breeze for him when five states vote Tuesday. Especially with, you know, nobody effectively left in the race.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be anybody else on the ballot.

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich (remember those guys?) will still be there, should voters want to cast a vote for anybody but Trump. A sizable number of votes against Trump, after everyone else has effectively dropped out, would send a strong message to the Republican party.

New Mexico appeared poised to make it a close race before Trump took control.

An Albuquerque Journal poll from February — the latest available in the state — showed 25 percent support for Cruz compared to 24 percent for Trump, a statistical tie with the poll’s 4.9 percent margin of error.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Creative Commons