NEW YORK— Competing on home turf, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton hoped to emerge victorious from Tuesday's primaries in New York, contests that offer big delegate hauls.
Even before the New York results were in, Clinton's campaign was declaring the Democratic race virtually over and warning rival Bernie Sanders that he risks damaging the party's eventual nominee if he keeps up harsh criticism of the former secretary of state.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said Sanders faces a "close to impossible path to the nomination" and predicted New York would result in Clinton taking "an important step to the nomination." Sanders needs to win 68 percent of the remaining delegates if he hopes to clinch the Democratic nomination.
In the lead-up to Tuesday's voting, candidates blanketed every corner of the state, from Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs to the working class enclaves in Buffalo and Syracuse.
Trump and Clinton were hoping to win in part on the strength of their local ties. Clinton was twice elected senator from New York, while Trump was born in Queens and lives in a building bearing his name in Manhattan.
"We love this city," Trump said Monday in brief remarks to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower. "You look at the other folks that are running, they couldn't care less about New York."
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.