Donald Trump secured the number of delegates needed to win the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday.
Trump surpassed the 1,237 delegate threshold required for the nomination after 29 unbound GOP delegates vowed to back him during the party's July convention, according to the Associated Press.
Donald Trump has officially clinched the Republican nomination for president. Here's how. https://t.co/qEwmKTMnYE pic.twitter.com/ZE5Ne3pSj6
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) May 26, 2016
Although Trump will not be officially named the Republican nominee until the party meets in Cleveland, the latest delegate count averts the possibility of a contested convention.
Trump has the backing of 1,238 delegates—one above the number needed to clinch the nomination.
Trump is expected to significantly add to his delegate count in the days to come, as 303 delegates will be up for grabs June 7 when primary voters in five states go to the polls, .
While most delegates are required to cast their vote at the convention for the candidate who won their state, at least 200 delegates are free to choose whoever they wish.
NPR reported:
Fifteen of those unbound delegates came from North Dakota, seven from Pennsylvania, two each from West Virginia and Nevada and one each from Colorado, New Hampshire and Oklahoma (the unbound delegate who announced her support for Trump in this state is GOP chairwoman Pam Pollard).
"I think he has touched a part of our electorate that doesn't like where our country is," Pollard told the AP. "I have no problem supporting Mr. Trump."
Trump is neck-and-neck with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical general election match-up. Clinton currently leads Trump by just one percentage point—44 percent versus 43 percent—according to the latest average of eight polls compiled by RealClearPolitics and published Tuesday.