Donald Trump has won the North Carolina and Illinois Republican primaries this evening, according to projections being followed by Matzav.com.
Trump has tightened his grip on the GOP nomination after his earlier win in delegate-rich Florida, as previously reported on Matzav.
After losing Ohio to John Kasich – who secured a must-win in his home state – the win in Illinois is viewed as a big one for the GOP presidential frontrunner.
Trump’s standing with voters in Illinois did not appear to be tarnished after he decided last week to cancel a big rally for the University of Illinois at Chicago campus because of security concerns, USA Today reports. Following the cancellation, both his GOP rivals for the nomination and Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders took Trump to task, accusing the real estate mogul for a toxic environment at his political rallies which are drawing enormous crowds.
But GOP voters appeared to dismiss the criticism and wanted to give Trump a chance.
The Illinois results, thus far, show Trump about ten percentage points ahead of Ted Cruz, who is followed by John Kasich and Marco Rubio.
{Andy Heller-Matzav.com}
