WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has now reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination for president.
He was put over the top in the Associated Press delegate count by a small number of the party’s unbound delegates who told the AP they would support him at the convention.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president. Trump has reached 1,238. With 303 delegates at stake in five state primaries on June 7, Trump will easily pad his total, avoiding a contested convention in Cleveland in July.
Trump fought off 16 other Republican contenders in an often ugly primary race. Many on the right have been slow to warm to Trump. Others worry about Trump’s crass personality and the lewd comments he’s made about women.
But millions of grassroots activists have embraced Trump as a plain-speaking populist who is not afraid to offend.
