How Trump could secure the Republican presidential nomination in Tuesday’s contests

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump stands on the brink of unofficially securing the Republican presidential nomination for a third time after winning primaries Tuesday in Georgia and Mississippi and with additional votes being cast in Washington and Hawaii. He’ll need about eight out of every 10 delegates available across all four states to cross the delegate threshold. Otherwise, he’ll have to wait up to a week before he can once again claim the title of presumptive nominee.

The former president’s near-clean sweep of last week’s Super Tuesday contests, as well as his win in American Samoa’s caucuses, put him just 126 delegates shy of the 1,215 needed to clinch the nomination heading into Tuesday’s contests.

Trump needs about 78% of the 161 delegates in Tuesday’s elections, a reasonable goal considering he won 93% of last week’s massive Super Tuesday delegate haul.

With former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley out of the race, there’s little doubt Trump will win most or possibly all the delegates up for grabs on Tuesday. But the exact timing of when he reaches that milestone and which state puts him over the top would depend on how dominant Trump is in Tuesday’s contests and possibly how quickly elections officials and caucuses organizers provide vote result updates.

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