By Miriam Raftery

April 20, 2016 (San Diego) – Frontrunners widened their leads in yesterday’s New York presidential primary, where three of the five contenders had strong New York ties.

New York’s former Senator Hillary Clinton won with 58% percent of the vote, picking up 139 delegates.  But Senator Bernie Sanders, who was raised in Brooklyn, got 42% and picked up 106 of the delegates.

On the Republican side, New York businessman Donald Trump scored a resounding victory with 60, winning 89 delegates. In second place, Ohio Governor John Kasich got 25% and earned 3 delegates.  Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with just 14.5%, was shut out of receiving any delegates.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left: Bernie Sanders, by Troy Page; Photo, right: Donald Trump, by Gage Skidmore

February 10, 2016 (San Diego) – Last night’s presidential primary in New Hampshire proved historic on several fronts.  By huge landslides, voters in both Democratic and Republican parties cast their ballots for candidates running outside the mainstream political framework: mavericks Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.  Sanders is also the first Jewish candidate ever to win a presidential primary. 

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders pulled in 60% of the vote to win the Democratic primary, trouncing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who got 38%. Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, is running on a platform of closing the wealth gap by reining in Wall Street, taxing the rich and providing free healthcare for all. 

On the Republican side, billionaire businessman and former reality TV show host Donald Trump won with 35% of the vote. Ohio Governor John Kasich took second at 16% in an upset over the Iowa caucus winner, Senator Ted Cruz, who got 12%, narrowly edging out Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who had 11% and 10% respectively. Other candidates placed in single digits, with 100% of precincts now reported.