REPUBLICAN ELECTION: Cruz calls hoop “basketball ring” in Hoosier state, Trump rips on Hillary’s gender

Trump leads Cruz 950-560 in delegate count

WASHINGTON — The Latest in the Republican presidential nomination as voters went to the polls in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Maryland: 

11:10 p.m.

Ted Cruz’s attempt to pander to basketball-crazy Indiana is backfiring on him. 

During a rally Tuesday night at a gym where “Hoosiers” was filmed, Cruz attempted to recreate a famous scene by having an aide measure the height of the basket. But Cruz referred to the hoop as a “basketball ring,” resulting in a torrent of taunts across social media. 

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Cruz is a movie buff who has quoted scenes from “Hoosiers” before. In the movie, Gene Hackman has a player measure the height of the basket to show that there’s no difference between the court his small-town team was used to playing on and the larger arena where the state tournament was taking place. 

It wasn’t clear what point Cruz was trying to make. 

This election MATTERS, ladies. https://t.co/SEieCNuFsT

— Stephanie Haberman (@StephLauren) April 27, 2016

10:55 p.m. 

Republican Donald Trump says that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is only doing well in the election because of her gender. 

“Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get five percent of the vote,” Trump told reporters. “The only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card. And the beautiful things is, women don’t like her, OK?”

Trump was speaking in Manhattan after sweeping primaries in all five states that voted Tuesday. 

Both he and Clinton have high unfavorable ratings, and Trump has made clear that he intends to attack the woman he calls “Crooked Hillary” mercilessly if the pair wind up facing off in a general election. 

Trump also suggested twice that Clinton’s rival, Bernie Sanders, run as an independent. 

9:53 p.m. 

Donald Trump is more than three-quarters of the way toward clinching the Republican nomination for president. 

With 950 delegates, Trump has 77 percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination. He needs to win slightly more than half of the remaining delegates to get there. 

Trump had a big night on Tuesday, collecting at least 105 of the 118 delegates at stake in five states. 

John Kasich will win at least five delegates and Ted Cruz will win at least one. 

Seven delegates are left to be awarded. 

The AP delegate count: 

Trump: 950. 

Ted Cruz: 560. 

John Kasich: 153. 

Needed to win: 1,237. 

9:32 p.m. 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says that it’s too soon for him to talk about potential vice presidents, but says he’s getting closer to that time. 

“We’re going to set up a committee in the not-too-distant future,” Trump told reporters Tuesday at Trump Tower as he celebrated his five-state sweep. 

Trump has been asked about rival Ted Cruz’s move to vetting candidates. He says Cruz is “wasting his time.” 

Trump was coy when asked whether he would put Chris Christie, who is in attendance, on his short list. 

“I think he’s fantastic,” he said of the New Jersey governor. 

9:17 p.m. 

Donald Trump says that the Republican nomination contest is “over” as he turned his focus to his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. 

“I call her crooked Hillary,” he said in a speech Tuesday in New York following his five-state sweep. He said of the Republican nomination contest: “it’s over. As far as I’m concerned it’s over.”

He vowed to do more for women than Clinton will if elected president and he reiterated his criticism of her handling of the security situation at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. 

He repeatedly called on Clinton’s Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, to run as an independent, saying “I think he’d do great.” 

9:15 p.m. 

Donald Trump is piling up the delegates on a big night Tuesday, collecting at least 105 of the 118 delegates at stake in five states. 

His five-state sweep raises the stakes for the anti-Trump effort in Indiana next week. If Trump can win the Indiana primary, he will stay on a narrow path to clinch the nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7. 

John Kasich will win at least five delegates in Tuesday’s contests both in Rhode Island. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, was contending for one or two delegates, also in Rhode Island.  

9:05 p.m. 

Donald Trump says he considers himself the “presumptive nominee” of the Republican Party, despite being short of the delegates needed to claim the nomination.  

Speaking after his sweep of all five of Tuesday’s GOP primaries, the Republican front-runner reiterated his calls to rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich to get out of the race.