Pennsylvania Primary: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Win

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the winners of Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary, according to the Associated Press.

Trump also won Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the AP says. Clinton prevailed in Delaware, Connecticut and Maryland; Sanders won Rhode Island.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. in Pennsylvania, where registered Democrats and Republicans were among those in five states who voted in several contests, including the 2016 presidential primary and a hotly contested U.S. Senate race that saw Katie McGinty prevail.

Trump's win was not a surprise. Polls showed him leading Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz heading into the primary.

Speaking to supporters in New York City, Trump said he considers himself the presumptive nominee.

"This is a far bigger win than we even expected," Trump said of his sweeping victories. "We have millions more votes, millions more, than Cruz. We have millions more votes than Kasich."

He then turned his focus toward his likely opponent in November, Clinton. "We will beat Hillary so easily," he said, later saying the only thing she's "got going is the woman card — and women don't like her."

Speaking to supporters in Philadelphia, Clinton said her campaign believes in the "goodness of our people and the greatness of our nation."

Amid cheering and chants of "Hillary," she pledged to fight for the middle class. "Our campaign is about restoring people's confidence in our ability to solve problems together."

In a reference to Sanders' campaign, Clinton said she's setting "bold, progressive goals, backed up by real plans."

"We have to be both dreamers and doers," the former secretary of state said during her election night event at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Clinton said she applauded Sanders and his supporters for inspiring the campaign to get "unaccountable" money out of politics and address income inequality.

But, in an effort to draw his supporters on her side as sets her sights on a general election campaign, she noted the two campaigns have more in common than they do differences.

"There's much more that unites us than divides us," she said.

The mood at Clinton's election night party was energetic, campaign officials told NBC News, saying their candidate was having the type of night they had hoped for.

Speaking to cheering supporters before the Pennsylvania results came in, Sanders said he is better positioned to take on the Republicans in the fall, saying he can draw more support from Independents. "The reason that we are generating this enthusiasm is because we are doing something very unusual in contemporary American politics: we are telling the truth," Sanders said to cheers and applause while at an event in West Virginia.

Strong voter turnout was reported throughout the day not only in Philadelphia but also in the suburbs.

Voters in Collegeville reported steady lines throughout the day. And in Ardmore, turnout was also strong. It was there where Patch caught up with voter Kyle Murray, who expressed his excitement for voting today. "I register for a party specifically to have the opportunity to vote in the primary. Otherwise, I miss an important opportunity to have a say in this country's future," said Murray, who declined to say which candidate he supported.

NBC News' polling data shows that 71 percent of Democrats think the primary has energized the party. Specifically, the network's exit polling data shows that 82 percent of Clinton's supporters believe the primary has energized the party; just 58 of Sanders' supporters feel the same way.

In the Republican race, exit polling shows 93 percent of GOP voters tell exit pollsters they are worried about the economy. In Pennsylvania, 42 percent of the GOP turnout was by white evangelicals.

"It is exciting to be a part of a primary that matters this year. You get excited to vote. I'm not die-hard for this guy or that guy or for anyone but I'm still excited to vote," said Phoenixville resident David Philbrook at his polling place. He declined to offer his party affiliation.

See Also:

• Presidential Primary Results, All 5 States
• 2016 PA Democratic Party Primary Results
• 2016 PA GOP Party Primary Results
• Pennsylvania Senate Race Results

The last time the Pennsylvania primary was so important for Republicans was 1976, when incumbent Gerald Ford narrowly battled off an insurgent named Ronald Reagan.

Renowned statistician Nate Silver predicted Trump had an 87 percent chance of winning the Keystone State.

Pennsylvania does not distribute all of its 71 delegates based on the primary vote. Due to a unique loophole, a candidate can win a majority of the popular vote and only receive a small portion of the available delegates. The state's 54 unbound delegates can cast their convention vote for whoever they want.

Many of these unbound delegates have publicly expressed support ahead of the primary.

Critics say Sanders needed to win — and win by a landslide — in Pennsylvania to keep his chance of a victory via pledged delegates within reach. The Vermont senator, a self-described Democratic Socialist with a populist message, faced off against the former Secretary of State Clinton a week after a double-digit loss in New York that seems to have taken some of the wind out of his campaign's sails following a multi-state winning streak in which he claimed victories in Washington state, Idaho, Hawaii, Alaska and others.

"The math has been difficult for Bernie Sanders for a very long time. He needed to win New York and he needed to win New York by a large margin, and in fact that didn’t happen," said Matthew Kerbel, a professor and chair of Villanova Univeristy's Political Science Department who authors the blog WolvesandSheep.com.

The following contests remain on the calendar: Indiana (May 3); Guam (May 7); West Virginia (May 10); Kentucky (May 17); Oregon (May 17); Virgin Islands (June 4); Puerto Rico (June 5); California (June 7); Montana (June 7); New Jersey (June 7); New Mexico (June 7); North Dakota (June 7); South Dakota (June 7); District of Columbia (June 14).Polls are open in Pennsylvania from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.

2016 Pennsylvania Presidential Primary Results | InsideGov