Presidential Primary Day: How We Voted
The East End of Long Island gave both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders a higher percentage of the vote in yesterday’s presidential primaries than either candidate received statewide, in contests that saw Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton walk off with big wins.
In the Republican race, Mr. Trump received 72.9 percent of the vote in the East End’s First Congressional District, John Kasich received 17.22 percent, Ted Cruz received 9.14 percent and Ben Carson, who dropped out of the race last month but whose name is still on the ballot, received .73 percent, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections.
In comparison, statewide, Mr. Trump received 60.5 percent of the vote, Mr. Kasich received 25 percent and Ted Cruz received 14.5 percent.
In all, 50,939 voters participated in the Republican primary in the First Congressional District, which includes all five East End towns, Brookhaven and most of Smithtown.
In the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders received 48.16 percent of the local vote and Hillary Clinton received 51.84 percent. Statewide, Mr. Sanders received just 42.1 percent of the vote while Ms. Clinton received 57.9 percent.
Mr. Sanders had an active get-out-the-vote effort on the East End, lead by a group calling themselves the BEES (Bernie East End Supporters).
In all, 42,172 First District voters participated in the Democratic primary.
The New York State Board of Elections breaks down party affiliation by county, not by congressional district, but, according to the state, as of April 1, 2016, there were 325,059 registered Democrats and 311,442 registered Republicans in Suffolk County.
The county figures include large portions of both the Second and Third congressional districts, as well as all of the First Congressional District.
The East End has historically been a Republican area, but has become a battleground in recent years. Republican President George W. Bush beat John Kerry by less than one percent here in 2004 but Democratic President Barack Obama took 52 percent to John McCain’s 48 percent here in 2008.
In all, Mr. Trump received 89 New York delegates and Mr. Kasich received 3, putting the breakdown after last night’s primary at 845 delegates for Mr. Trump, 559 for Mr. Cruz, 171 for Marco Rubio and 147 for Mr. Kasich.
Mr. Trump needs to win 1,237 delegates to avoid a brokered convention.
In the Democratic New York primary, Ms. Clinton received 139 delegates and Mr. Sanders received 106, bringing Ms. Clinton’s won delegate count to 1,428 and Mr. Sanders’ count to 1,151.
Ms. Clinton currently has the support of 502 superdelegates and Mr. Sanders has the support of 38, with 172 superdelegates still unaffiliated with either candidate.
