A Donald Trump/Hillary Clinton November showdown is closer to reality after tonight’s results: Donald Trump swept all five northeastern/New England states with at least 55% of the vote, while Hillary Clinton comfortably carried three states (Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania), narrowly carried Connecticut, and only lost tiny Rhode Island. We will discuss each party’s primaries below:

Democratic contest

Hillary Clinton showed some dominance last Tuesday with a 58-42% victory in New York. Tonight, her strength among black voters enabled her to carry Maryland (63%), Delaware (60%), and Pennsylvania (56%) fairly easily. She also benefitted from the influence of the New York media market (which covers western Connecticut) in her narrow 51% win in Connecticut. Her only loss tonight was in Rhode Island, which Bernie Sanders carried 55-43%

Democratic turnout was a mixed bag: while overall, the five states holding contests tonight showed a 21% drop off in turnout compared to the Obama/Clinton contest of 2008, although most of that dropoff came from Pennsylvania (30% less Democrats turned out than in 2008) and Rhode Island (35% drop off in turnout).

While the fact that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee has not been in doubt for some time, her performance in tonight’s contests further strengthens her argument that Sanders’ remaining in the race prevents Democrats from uniting behind her as their nominee. Expect that some pressure will now be exerted on Bernie Sanders to drop out of the race.

Republican contest

It all started in New York a week ago: Donald Trump’s 60% victory occurred during a period after the Wisconsin contest when his campaign largely avoided getting entangled in any controversial statements. And while this “message discipline” has continued since the New York contest, it could be argued that Trump benefitted from a bungled attempt by Ted Cruz and John Kasich to “divide up the map” and compete only in those states where either was the dominant “anti-Trump” candidate.

It was the sheer size of the Trump victories tonight that firmly put him in the driver’s seat for the duration of the contest, although the nomination contest will still go all the way to the California contest on June 7. In each state, he finished first with solid majorities from the 55% he got in Maryland to the 64% he received in Rhode Island.

And while Trump was sweeping all five contests, Ted Cruz ran third (behind John Kasich) in four of the five contests, while in Pennsylvania, he only finished in second place by 35K votes over John Kasich out of 1.5 million votes cast. While it is true that these northeastern/New England states were not hospitable to Ted Cruz’s brand of conservative politics, these anemic showings do not create the impression that he is a credible contender for the remaining contests in general and Indiana’s contest specifically, unless Trump commits a major blunder before the Indiana balloting.

As with all contests before tonight, Republican turnout has remained heavy. As this article is being written, turnout is 70% higher than it was in 2008.

Looking ahead

While the terrain in the remaining contests (New Jersey is the only Northeastern state that hasn’t yet voted) is less favorable for Donald Trump, the fact that he has posted overwhelming wins in the last six contests makes him difficult to beat. Plus, the pace of the primary calendar will slow down some before the climactic finale on June 7. Next Tuesday will be the critical (for Ted Cruz, anyway) Indiana primary. Nebraska and West Virginia vote on May 10. The contest then moves to Oregon on May 17, then to Washington on May 24.