Trump, Hillary triumph on home turf; move closer to nomination

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton today won the potentially game- changing New York primary as the front-runners wrested back control of the US presidential race on their home turf to position themselves close to securing an outright nomination.

The emphatic wins give Clinton and Trump edge over their rivals Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz and solidify their front-runner status after a series of losses recently. It also resoundingly answers questions about their command of the White House race.

Trump's win means he could sweep the state's 95 delegates and position himself to win the Republican nomination without going through a contested Republican convention in July.

Clinton's win means that it could blunt Sanders' momentum once and for all and leave him with a tough decision on how to proceed as she extends her overwhelming lead in the Democratic race. With 98 per cent of the vote in, 69-year-old Trump was in the lead at 60.5 per cent while Kasich was at 25.1 per cent and Cruz at 14.5 per cent.

With 98 per cent of the Democratic votes in, Clinton was leading Sanders 57.9 per cent to 42.1 per cent. Trump's big victory in his home state gave him renewed momentum in the Republican race and pushed him closer to the 1,237 delegates required to win the nomination. According to a CNN estimate, the business tycoon-turned- politician held 847 delegates, while Ted Cruz had 553 and John Kasich had 148. Across the aisle, Clinton was leading with 1,930 delegates including 1,443 pledged delegates and 487 super-delegates. Sanders had a total of 1,223 delegates including 1,183 pledged delegates and 40 super-delegates. A Democratic candidate needs 2,383 delegates to secure the nomination.

"Today you prove once again there is no place like home... This win is personal," said the 68-year-old former secretary of state, joined by her husband ex-president Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea, in her victory speech. "The race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch and victory is in sight."

Calling out Trump and Cruz for their remarks against Muslims and women, she said, "Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have a vision for our country that's divisive and dangerous -- rounding up immigrants or banning Muslims is just not who we are." "Threatening to ban Muslims" and treating American- Muslims like "criminal" go against "everything America stands for," she said.