Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton fought to extend their delegate leads over underdog presidential rivals Tuesday in primary election voting across three Western states as the world grappled with a new wave of bloody attacks in Europe.
The contests in Arizona, Utah and Idaho were largely an afterthought for much of the day as the leading White House hopefuls clashed over how to stop the spread of the Islamic State group. The organization claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Brussels that left at least 31 dead and dozens more wounded.
Even before Tuesday’s violence, foreign policy had emerged as a central theme ahead of the Western elections with candidates in both parties courting pro-Israel activists this week.
Clinton and Trump’s Republican rivals questioned whether the billionaire businessman has the temperament and readiness to serve as commander in chief, and condemned the GOP front-runner’s calls to diminish U.S. involvement with NATO.
“This is a time for us to reaffirm our solidarity with our European friends and allies, individually and through NATO,” Clinton declared on NBC’s “Today,” insisting that the U.S. must intensify efforts to prevent terrorism in conjunction with its allies. “We’ve got to be absolutely strong and smart and steady in how we respond.”
Trump vowed to defeat the Islamic State, and he renewed his proposal for temporarily barring Muslims from entering the country in addition to refusing entry to Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn nation.
“We’re having a problem with Muslims coming into the country,” Trump said on CNN. “The reason I’m leading on the Republican side by a lot … is that I’m very, very strong on borders.”
Indeed, Trump and Clinton both enjoyed overwhelming delegate leads heading into Tuesday’s contests. Arizona and Utah featured contests for both parties, while Idaho Democrats also held presidential caucuses.
Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republicans Ted Cruz and John Kasich hoped to reverse the sense of inevitability taking hold around both party front-runners.
Cruz seized on Trump’s foreign policy inexperience while declaring that the U.S. is at war with the Islamic State group.
“He doesn’t have the minimal knowledge one would expect from a staffer at the State Department, much less from the commander in chief,” the Texas senator told reporters. “The stakes are too high for learning on the job.”
Both Trump and Clinton faced political challenges Tuesday.
The New York billionaire’s brash tone has turned off some Republican voters in Utah, where preference polls suggest Cruz has a chance to claim more than 50 percent of the caucus vote — and with it, all 40 of Utah’s delegates. Trump could earn some delegates should Cruz fail to exceed 50 percent, in which case the delegates would be awarded based on each candidate’s vote total.
Kasich hopes to play spoiler in Utah, a state that prizes civility and religion.
A week ago, the Ohio governor claimed a victory in his home state — his first and only win of the primary season.
Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee, supported Kasich there. But he is telling his fellow Utah voters in a recorded phone message that Cruz “is the only Republican candidate who can defeat Donald Trump.”
Trump appears to be in a stronger position in Arizona, which will award all of its 58 delegates to whichever candidate wins the most votes.
Kasich on Tuesday criticized his Republican opponents for targeting Muslims in their responses to the Brussels violence. While Trump reinforced his call to ban Muslims, Cruz said, “We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”
Later in the day, Cruz praised a since-disbanded program run by the New York Police Department that infiltrated dozens of mosques and Muslim student groups, calling it a model for the nation.
Kasich told reporters in Minnesota he doesn’t believe all Muslims in Minnesota or elsewhere are “somehow intent on trying to destroy our families.” He said, “This is a time when you have to keep your cool.”
Anti-Trump Republicans are running out of time to prevent him from securing the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the nomination.
With more than half of all delegates already awarded during the first seven weeks of primary voting, Trump’s challengers’ best — and perhaps only — hope lies with denying the front-runner a delegate majority and forcing a contested national convention in July.
On the Democratic side, Clinton’s advantage is even greater.
The former secretary of state is coming off last week’s five-state sweep of Sanders, who remains popular among his party’s most liberal voters but needs to improve his performance if he expects to stay relevant. The Vermont senator, now trailing Clinton by more than 300 pledged delegates, has targeted Tuesday’s races as the start of a comeback tour.
