Donald Trump clinches pivotal Indiana primary

Businessman Donald Trump has scored a major victory in Indiana’s Republican primary election, beating chief rival, Texas senator Ted Cruz by a wide margin and propelling him further down the road to the party’s presidential nomination.

Mr Trump (69) saw off the challenge from Mr Cruz (45) in the midwestern state where the conservative firebrand had been expected to perform well among evangelical and Christian conservatives but his campaign stumbled among his core base of support.

Instead the New York billionaire again showed his broad appeal among Republican voters, earning his seventh straight victory in a state primary and dealing a crushing blow to Mr Cruz’s presidential dreams and the hopes of the “Never Trump” movement.

Several US television networks declared Mr Trump the winner of Indiana’s Republican primary just after polls closed at 7pm local time (midnight Irish time), signalling another resounding state victory for the insurgent candidate.

Overwhelming favourite

The Democratic race between front-runner Hillary Clinton (68) and her challenger Vermont senator Bernie Sanders (74) in Indiana was too close to call after polls closed.

With just 5 per cent of votes counted, Mr Trump had 54 per cent of support ahead of Mr Cruz with 33 per cent and Ohio governor John Kasich with 10 per cent.

The 57 Republican delegates to be awarded in Indiana will not be enough to secure the 1,237 convention delegates Mr Trump requires to clinch nomination. But the result makes him the overwhelming favourite to be the Republican nominee in November’s election.

Mr Trump’s performance in Indiana extends his broad support among Republicans from the south and his home base in the north-east to the American mid-west as the US presidential election heads west before the primary season ends in California on June 7th.