Clinton, Trump win in Wash.; violence erupts at N.M. rally

Republican Donald Trump dominated Washington’s presidential primary Tuesday night, taking more than 75 percent of the vote in initial counts of about 450,000 GOP ballots.

Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton was the victor, taking 54 percent to rival Bernie Sanders’ 46 percent. That was a big reversal from March caucuses dominated by Sanders.

Meanwhile, protests outside a Trump rally in Albuquerque, N.M., turned violent Tuesday night as demonstrators threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at officers, overturned trash cans and knocked down barricades.

Police responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center.

During the rally, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, who shouted, held up banners and resisted removal by security officers.

The banners included the messages “Trump is Fascist” and “We’ve heard enough.”

Trump responded with his usual bluster, instructing security to remove the protesters and mocking their actions by telling them to “Go home to mommy.”

He responded to one demonstrator by asking, “How old is this kid?” Then he provided his own answer: “Still wearing diapers.”

Tuesday night’s results in Washington are mostly symbolic. Although nearly 1.3 million primary votes were in as of Tuesday, Washington’s tally won’t have much sway on the 2016 race for the White House.

Democrats are ignoring the result and already allocated presidential delegates based on March caucuses.

The results do count on the Republican side, with Trump’s victory bringing him closer to amassing the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination.

But Trump has been the presumptive nominee since his last-standing rivals, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, folded their campaigns just as Washington ballots were being mailed. They remained on the ballot, as did Ben Carson who quit in March.

Trump’s campaign celebrated the victory as building momentum toward his expected fall matchup with Clinton.

“We certainly expected a good number tonight,” said state Sen. Don Benton, Trump’s state campaign chairman. “I think it makes it clear that Washington could be in play for the November election.”

There were 44 Republican delegates up for grabs based on Tuesday’s results. Most of the delegates were elected at the state GOP convention in Pasco last week, where supporters of Cruz dominated.

But regardless of personal preference, all of the state GOP delegates will be bound according to the primary results at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer.

Democrats won’t use the primary results, and their state party officials have criticized the $11.5 million cost of the election, deriding it as no use other than a coronation for Trump.

The state Democratic Party stayed with its tradition of caucuses to award the state’s 101 bound delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this year.

Sanders dominated the precinct caucuses in March, and those results were finalized in recent congressional district caucuses, giving Sanders 74 delegates to Clinton’s 27.

That doesn’t include the state’s 17 Democratic superdelegates, who are not bound by the primary vote.

Most of the superdelegates, including Gov. Jay Inslee, have endorsed Clinton, angering many Sanders backers who say the superdelegates should back the caucus winner.