UPDATE: 11:30 p.m. EDT — Hillary Clinton has 92 percent of the delegates she needs to march to the Democratic nomination, the Associated Press reported, adding that Bernie Sanders acknowledged he had an "uphill climb" ahead of him to the Democratic nomination. The Vermont senator’s win in Indiana's Democratic primary Tuesday will not dampen the former secretary of state's lead of over 300 pledged delegates, the report added.

UPDATE: 9:50 p.m. EDT — Bernie Sanders attacked Hillary Clinton over her cozy relationship with Wall Street and her vote for the Iraq war, signaling that he isn't ready to help the Democratic Party put up a united front against Donald Trump as the Vermont senator continues his underdog campaign for president.

"We have shown the world that we can run a campaign without being dependent on powerful and wealthy special interests," Sanders said at a Louisville, Kentucky, rally Tuesday night just before he was named the projected winner in the Indiana Democratic primary. "Secretary Clinton has chosen to raise her funds in a different way. In addition to that, as some of you may know, Secretary Clinton has given a number of speeches to Wall Street financial institutions for $225,000 a speech. Now, $225,000, that is a lot of money and I kind of figure that if you give a speech for that kind of money it must be a brilliant, earth shattering speech."

"It must be a speech that will solve all of our global problems. It must be a speech that is written in Shakespearean prose and therefore I think a speech that extraordinary should be shared with all of the people. Secretary Clinton has said she will release all of the transcripts when other people do the same," Sanders went on.

UPDATE: 9:16 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump vowed to bring unity to the GOP Tuesday night and called Ted Cruz "brave" after the Texas senator exited the 2016 race, clearing the path for Trump to become the Republican nominee.

“I didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect it,” Trump said. “We have to bring unity to the Republican Party.”

"We're going to be saying Merry Christmas again," Trump added.

UPDATE: 9:16 p.m. EDT — Bernie Sanders is the projected winner in Indiana's Democratic primary, according to NBC News, CBS News and Fox News. The victory shows Sanders remains popular with many Democratic voters, but overall his message hasn't been able to stop Hillary Clinton from amassing a wide lead in the delegate count.

UPDATE: 9:06 p.m. EDT — The chairman of the Republican National Committee said Tuesday night that Donald Trump is the likely GOP nominee. Reince Priebus tweeted: "@realDonaldTrump will be presumtive @GOP nominee, we all need to unite and focus on defeating @HillaryClinton#NeverClinton."

UPDATE: 8:56 p.m. EDT — Ted Cruz raised more than any other Republican in the 2016 race, picking up about $80 million for his campaign through the end of March. The super PACs behind him also had more than $62 million, meaning there was a lot of cash being spent to stop Donald Trump from becoming the GOP nominee. It's unclear what those donors will do next. "Mr. Cruz’s departure means that the Republican field now no longer has a powerhouse fundraiser, leaving many wealthy GOP donors at a loss," the Wall Street Journal noted.

UPDATE: 8:45 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump prepared to vet potential vice president picks Tuesday night as Sen. Ted Cruz announced he was exiting the 2016 race.

“From the beginning, I’ve said that I would continue on as long as there was a viable path to victory. Tonight, I’m sorry to say it appears that path has been foreclosed. Together, we left it all on the field in Indiana. We gave it everything we’ve got, but the voters chose another path,” Cruz said.

“And so, with a heavy heart but with boundless optimism for the long-term future of our nation, we are suspending our campaign,” he said, adding, “I am not suspending our fight for liberty.”

Meanwhile, NBC News reported that Trump was moving forward with his general election campaign.

UPDATE: 8:35 p.m. EDT — Sen. Ted Cruz addressed supporters Tuesday night amid reports that his camapaign manager had told reporters he was exiting the race. But Cruz didn't immediately make the announcement members of the press were waiting to hear. Instead, he praised "the America that I love" and noted that “every one of us has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

“America is the land that gave my mom, an Irish-Italian girl growing up in a working-class family, the chance to be the first in her family to go to college,” he continued.

UPDATE: 8:28 p.m. EDT — Ted Cruz is dropping out of the GOP primary, effectively ceding the nomination battle to Donald Trump, a New York Times reporter tweeted Tuesday night.

UPDATE: 8:05 p.m. EDT — The Never Trump movement isn't ready to call it quits. Our Principles PAC, the anti-Trump super PAC that spent more than $2 million in attack ads in Indiana, released a statement Tuesday night noting that Trump still wasn't the GOP presidential nominee.

"While tonight's Indiana primary results increased Donald Trump's delegate count, Trump remains short of the 1,237 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination," chair Katie Packer said. "A substantial number of delegates remain up for grabs in this highly unpredictable year."

Packer said Trump wouldn't beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in a November general election.

"We continue to give voice to the belief of so many Republicans that Trump is not a conservative, does not represent the values of the Republican Party, cannot beat Hillary Clinton, and is simply unfit to be president of the United States," she continued.

UPDATE: 7:51 p.m. EDT — Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he is staying in the race after Donald Trump won Indiana on Tuesday night.

"Tonight’s results are not going to alter Gov. Kasich’s campaign plans. Our strategy has been and continues to be one that involves winning the nomination at an open convention. The comments from Trump, on the verge of winning in Indiana, heighten the differences between Governor Kasich and his positive, inclusive approach and the disrespectful ramblings from Donald Trump. Prior to tonight’s primary, the Kasich campaign had already secured a large plurality of Indiana delegates committed to Governor Kasich at a multi-ballot convention as part of the pre-primary delegate selection process," his campaign posted on Facebook.

Indiana Republican Primary Results | InsideGov

UPDATE: 7:17 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump said the pressures of the campaign are turning Ted Cruz “wacko.” Trump tweeted: “Wow, Lyin' Ted Cruz really went wacko today. Made all sorts of crazy charges. Can't function under pressure - not very presidential. Sad!”

Shortly after, Trump was named the projected winner in Indiana. He cited his victory as he urged Cruz to exit the race. “Lyin' Ted Cruz consistently said that he will, and must, win Indiana. If he doesn't he should drop out of the race-stop wasting time & money,” Trump tweeted.

UPDATE: 7:01 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump is the projected winner in Indiana's GOP primary in a major loss for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz that signals the New York business mogul is on his way to winning the Republican nomination, CNN reported.

With about 5 percent of the vote in, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race, 55.7 percent to 44.3 percent, but the contest is too close to call. Trump was ahead of Cruz 53.6 percent to 33 percent in the GOP contest, the Associated Press reported.

UPDATE: 6:56 p.m. EDT — Early exit polls show Democrats in Indiana are worried about healthcare and inequality. Fewer than 10 percent of voters choose terrorism as a top issue, CNN reported.

For Republicans, the economy was the top issue, with seven in 10 voters saying they were deeply worried about the economy. Only 10 percent of voters said immigration was a leading concern.

UPDATE: 6:46 p.m. EDT — Ted Cruz’s campaign staffers are telling reporters he is in the race for the long haul, but they also are expecting staffing cuts and more if he loses Indiana Tuesday night to Donald Trump.

One unnamed aide told the Associated Press the campaign was preparing for "a very somber" speech in Indianapolis. CNN reported that the campaign had prepared two speeches – one for a surprise win, and another for a crushing loss.

"We are in the campaign for the duration. The duration," a top Cruz campaign official told CNN when asked if Cruz would drop out if he lost Indiana.

UPDATE: 6:35 p.m. EDT — Nearly 300,000 Indiana voters requested early and absentee ballots, local media reported. Of those, roughly 184,000 were Republicans and 109,000 were Democrats. About 90,000 voters registered to vote online in the days before Indiana’s April 4 registration deadline.

UPDATE: 6:25 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump is leading in Indiana with 54 percent of the vote, while Ted Cruz has 32 percent of the vote, with 1 percent reporting. Hillary Clinton is winning on the Democratic side, with 54 percent of the vote, compared with Bernie Sanders’ 46 percent, with 1 percent reporting, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

UPDATE: 6:05 p.m. EDT — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Tuesday he supports Israel building new settlements in the West Bank. Trump also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a very good guy."

"I think Israel, they really have to keep going, they have to keep moving forward," Trump told the Daily Mail in a story published Tuesday. "I don't think there should be a pause. You have hundreds and even, I guess, thousands, of missiles being launched into Israel — who would put up with that? Who would stand for it?"

The Obama administration has argued that Netanyahu's settlement policies have hurt any hopes of a peace deal. Trump said he has a solution.

"A lot of people say that's not a deal that's possible. But I mean lasting peace, not a peace that lasts for two weeks and they start launching missiles again. So we'll see what happens," Trump said. "I'd love to negotiate peace. I think that, to me, is the all-time negotiation," Trump added.

UPDATE: 5:45 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump has pushed at least one Republican too far. A former senior adviser for Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign said he would vote for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton after Trump cited a National Enquirer report while trashing Ted Cruz’s father.

"[T]he GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it's on the level," Mark Salter tweeted Tuesday. "I'm with her."

Trump told Fox News Tuesday that Rafael Cruz was with Lee Harvey Oswald on the day he assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

“I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting?” Trump said. “It’s horrible.”

Media outlets such as the Miami Herald said the claim had no merit.

UPDATE: 5:29 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump might cost Republicans the White House in November, but former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he will likely vote for the New York business mogul.

“I think Donald Trump is going to have the hardest time beating Hillary of all the Republican candidates that ran for president,” Jindal said Tuesday on CNN. He added, "If it comes down to a binary choice between Donald Trump, I'm supporting the party's nominee. I'm not happy about it. I don't think he's the best qualified, I don't think he's the one most likely to be successful, but I would vote for him over Hillary Clinton."

UPDATE: 5:20 p.m. EDT — A former Ronald Reagan campaign manager has joined Team Trump. Ed Rollins, who managed Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign, told Politico he would serve as a top strategist for Great America PAC, a pro-Trump group that plans to raise $15 million toward putting The Donald in the White House.

“I’m not ready to roll over and play dead and allow Hillary Clinton to be president,” Rollins said.

UPDATE: 5:05 p.m. EDT — South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is warning GOP voters to stay away from Donald Trump. "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed ... and we will deserve it," Graham said on Twitter Tuesday.

His warning comes as Trump is expected to win Indiana Tuesday night, putting him on a direct path to the GOP nomination.

UPDATE: 4:48 p.m. EDT — 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Fox News CEO Roger Ailes have turned Fox News into the "Donald Trump network," Ted Cruz alleged Tuesday.

"There is a broader dynamic at work, which is network executives have made a decision to get behind Donald Trump. Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes at Fox News have turned Fox News into the Donald Trump network," Cruz told reporters on Tuesday morning in Indiana. "Rupert Murdoch is used to picking world leaders in Australia and the United Kingdom running tabloids, and we're seeing it here at home with the consequences for this nation. Media executives are trying to convince Hoosiers, trying to convince Americans, the race is decided. You have no choice. You are stuck between Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, either one of which is a horrific choice for this country."

UPDATE: 4:32 p.m. EDT — Bernie Sanders’ wife said Tuesday his supporters won't switch over to Donald Trump's camp if Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee. Trump claimed Monday he could win Sanders' backers if the Vermont senator leaves the 2016 race.

“I tend to not agree with that,” Jane Sanders said on MSNBC when asked about Trump’s boast. "Across the board, no.”

But Jane Sanders conceded that her husband and Trump are on the same side when it comes to trade policies.

“I think there is agreement on trade,” she said. "[They share] very strong disagreement with Secretary Clinton on trade.”

UPDATE: 3:58 p.m. EDT — Indiana voters battled some election snafus Tuesday as they headed to the ballot box. In Hancock County, there were reports of connectivity issues and printing problems. In Marion County, one voting location was shut down after voting machines were locked in a room. New voting machines were being used in half a dozen counties, including Marion, Bartholomew, Hendricks, Howard, Montgomery and Owen, local media reported. There were also reports of long lines, with more voters turning out than in previous years.

UPDATE: 3:45 p.m. EDT — It doesn't look like Ted Cruz will be dropping out of the 2016 race after Indiana's results come in. With Donald Trump far ahead in the delegate count, some GOP leaders are urging Cruz to exit the 2016 race, and Indiana has been called Cruz's final stand. But don't tell that to his campaign. The team is heading to Wisconsin and Nebraska Wednesday to rally voters.

UPDATE: 3:28 p.m. EDT — Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is scaring off scores of independent voters, a demographic that could cost her a potential general election race in November. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that her favorability rating among independents sank by 15 percentage points in recent months. Only 20 percent of independents viewed her positively, according to the survey, while 62 percent viewed her negatively. The same poll gave her a positive rating of 35 percent and a negative rating of 54 percent in January, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Clinton has one factor going for her: Voters also don't like Republican Donald Trump, who would likely be her rival in November. About 19 percent of independents viewed him favorably, while 67 percent had a negative view of him.

UPDATE: 3:05 p.m. EDT — A Republican businesswoman said she was booted from her position as a GOP convention delegate because she called Donald Trump a “racist, misogynist flip-flopper.”

GOP officials say Rina Shah Bharara won’t get to vote against Trump at the Republican National Convention as a Washington, D.C., delegate because she lives in Virginia, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. But she told the newspaper she offered the GOP proof that she’s a D.C. resident and isn’t being heard out because of her views.

“This is all Trump-driven. They are searching for anything to get rid of me,” Bharara said. “I have not been dishonest; it’s actually the D.C. party that is overstepping its authority. ... I was elected, and I’m going to Cleveland.”

Bharara was supporting Marco Rubio before he dropped out of the Republican primary. She has said she might vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton instead of Trump.

She campaigned to serve as an RNC delegate with a sign that read: “Vote for a Daughter of Immigrants — Rina Shah — New Mother, Millennial, Entrepreneur, DC Resident of 10+ years.”

But the GOP’s executive committee said it voted to remove her from the post after property records showed she has a home about 20 miles outside the District in Reston, Virginia.

UPDATE: 2:48 p.m. EDT — A high school student reportedly brought a cardboard cutout of Democrat Bernie Sanders to prom over the weekend as her date. Chloe Raynaud, who is heading to Oregon State University in the fall, calls herself a “stubborn socialist.” She wore a pink dress and pinned a matching boutonniere on Sanders, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

“I hadn't gotten asked yet and prom was approaching quickly, so I was thinking about who would make a good prom date,” Raynaud said in an interview with Revelist. “I really identify with Bernie's political standpoint, so I just went for it!”

She said he was a cheap date. She purchased the cutout online.

“During the slow dance I brought him out to dance with him, and everyone started laughing,” she said. “Then my friends made him crowd surf.”

UPDATE: 2:35 p.m. EDT — Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Donald Trump aren’t so different, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul claimed Tuesday on CNN. “In many ways, Sanders and Trump are similar, but they’re different in the solutions,” he said. “Sanders, you know, is blaming too much freedom, too much free market, so he wants socialism.”

Trump has said he could win over Sanders supporters unhappy with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in a general election, while Sanders and Clinton have both been critical of Trump’s views on immigration and national security.

Paul said he won’t for Trump if he is the GOP nominee, but he also isn’t backing Clinton or Sanders.

“Right now, I think Sanders is getting a lot of support, but he’s going in the absolute opposite direction, because as far as the libertarians are concerned, it’s too much government, too much interference, too much control of the markets, too many special interests,” Paul said.

Paul previously called Sanders “ just a variant of Trump ” in an interview with CNN in March. At the time, he also compared Clinton to Trump.

“My biggest beef is that from a libertarian viewpoint there’s no meaningful difference between Hillary and Trump,” Paul said. “I mean, they both support the military industrial complex, the Federal Reserve, deficits, entitlements, invasions of privacy.”

Others in recent months have compared Trump and Sanders, who are both fighting mainstream elements in their political parties.

"One is a billionaire businessman, the other a career politician who rails against billionaires," NPR wrote in February. But Sanders and Trump actually have more in common than you might think. First, there are are the obvious similarities. They both have trademark hair and were raised in New York City. And then there's the way they say 'huge.'"

UPDATE: 2:15 p.m. EDT — Hillary Clinton clearly isn't too worried about losing to Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. “I’m really focused on moving into the general election,” she told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Tuesday afternoon. Clinton didn't have plans to return to Indiana on Tuesday night to address supporters there.

UPDATE: 1:53 p.m. EDT — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence voted Tuesday following his endorsement of Ted Cruz. But Pence didn't say for whom he voted after his lukewarm endorsement of Cruz last week, when he said he was grateful for Donald Trump for taking a stand for Hoosier jobs.

“I’m not against anybody, but I will be voting for Ted Cruz in the Republican primary,” Pence told Indiana-based radio host Greg Garrison last week.

Trump has said Pence is really backing his campaign, and his endorsement of Cruz was just for show. “If you really take a look at Mike Pence, I think he gave me more of an endorsement than Ted Cruz,” Trump told Fox News’ Chris Wallace over the weekend.

UPDATE: 1:30 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump said Ted Cruz doesn't have the temperament to be president after Cruz insulted Trump's romantic relationships. Trump, who has been blasted by some establishment Republicans for being too hot-tempered to serve in the Oval Office, said Cruz was unhinged after Cruz called Trump "a serial philanderer." So why was Cruz so mad at Trump in the first place? Trump started Tuesday's barrage of insults by linking Cruz's father to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The two men then traded jabs in press conferences and media statements as Indiana voters headed to the polls.

UPDATE: 12:54 p.m. EDT — A Ted Cruz surrogate described Donald Trump on Tuesday as “Hillary Clinton with a penis.” Former Bogota, New Jersey, Mayor Steve Lonegan, who was appointed to Cruz’s New Jersey leadership team in December, said in a CNN interview that conservative voters won't nominate Donald Trump, BuzzFeed News reported.

“If Donald Trump does win tonight and pull out half the delegates, you will see a very different Donald Trump tomorrow. Donald Trump will look a lot more like Hillary Clinton than Ronald Reagan," he said.

UPDATE: 12:34 p.m. EDT — The wall proposed by Donald Trump that would run along the U.S. southern border to prevent people from illegally crossing into the country was instantly met by his critics with scrutiny, but some in the global soccer community have greeted it with satire instead of scorn. Case in point: With the Copa América set to kick off next month in California, some media outlets covering the international soccer tournament are spoofing Trump's presidential aspirations, SB Nation reported.

One Argentine TV station made a fake advertisement for the event, featuring Trump, of course, and the following motto: "The truth is, the best they can do is not let us in."

That ad followed one last year from Mexican TV.

While his proposed wall may seem far-fetched to some, Trump's popularity has surged since he first made the promise last summer. The billionaire front-runner candidate is enjoying his highest rate of approval among Republicans, with 56 percent support, according to a poll released Tuesday.

UPDATE: 12:14 p.m. EDT — The GOP primary has had ugly moments before, like that time Donald Trump defended his penis in a debate after Marco Rubio talked about his hand size. But Tuesday's exchange of insults got even uglier, with accusations involving John F. Kennedy's death and venereal diseases.

Trump went first, saying Ted Cruz's father was somehow involved with JFK's death. Cruz responded by telling a group of reporters Tuesday morning from Evansville, Indiana, that Trump wasn't very respectable.

"Donald Trump is a serial philanderer, and he boasts about it. I want everyone to think about your teenaged kids. The president of the United States talks about how great it is to commit adultery, how proud he is. [He] describes his battle with venereal disease as his own personal Vietnam. That’s a quote, by the way, on the Howard Stern show. Do you want to spend the next five years with your kids bragging about infidelity? Now what does he do? He does the same projection, just like a pathological liar. He accuses everyone about lying," Cruz said.

UPDATE: 11:48 a.m. EDT — Bernie Sanders is urging supporters in California and Indiana to keep his campaign going. Sanders needs to win 66 percent of the remaining pledged delegates to get on the general election ballot.

UPDATE: 11:19 a.m. EDT — Leslie Knope would need to nap for a month if she were elected president, Amy Poehler tells Hillary Clinton of her former "Parks and Recreation" character in an ad released by the Clinton campaign Tuesday as Indiana voters headed to the polls. The ad's message is subtle: Hillary wouldn't need a nap.

In the spot, the Democratic front-runner asks Poehler how Knope, the fictional mayor of Pawnee, Indiana, would fare as president. "Oh, my God, she would run out of gas really fast," Poehler, 44, tells Clinton. Watch the ad here.

Poehler, who portrayed Clinton in sketches on "Saturday Night Live" several years ago, is backing the former secretary of state.

UPDATE: 11:04 a.m. EDT — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders won't be greeting voters Tuesday in Indiana. Clinton is campaigning in Ohio, a crucial state in the November general election, while Sanders is stopping in Kentucky, which will hold a primary this month.

“I am not into legacy,” Sanders told the Guardian Sunday when asked to sum up his campaign's lasting achievements. “I hope my legacy will be that I was a very good president of the United States.”

UPDATE: 10:42 a.m. EDT — Republican front-runner Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz's father Tuesday of helping Lee Harvey Oswald before he assassinated President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald's being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said during a phone interview with Fox News as voters in Indiana took to the polls. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up? They don't even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.” The reality TV star continued: “I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death, before the shooting?”

Trump was referring to a story published by the National Enquirer, which has endorsed Trump and released critical articles about his rivals, including one that claimed Cruz cheated on his wife and another that claimed Hillary Clinton is an alcoholic.

The Cruz campaign called the JFK story “garbage." The Miami Herald also dismissed the allegations after looking into the tabloid story. “The explosive suggestion that Cruz’s father would have had any affiliation with Oswald is not corroborated in any other way," it determined.

UPDATE: 10:26 a.m. EDT — Carly Fiorina for vice president? Republican voters aren't feeling it. Roughly 60 percent of GOP voters said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's decision last week to add the former Hewlett-Packard CEO to the ticket had “no impact” on their vote, according to a survey of Republican voters from Morning Consult. Another 22 percent said they were less likely to vote for Cruz because he named a running mate before winning the Republican nomination, the Guardian reported. More than a third of Republicans said they had never heard of Fiorina or had no opinion, positive or negative, of her. She dropped out of the presidential race this year after finishing near the bottom in several contests.

Former Presidential Candidate Carly Fiorina | InsideGov

UPDATE: 10:02 a.m. EDT — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had one final message to Indiana voters this week ahead of the Tuesday primary: Donald Trump is a liar. Cruz's campaign unveiled an ad in Indiana Monday that sought to attack Trump for calling Cruz a liar by turning around the insult.

"Donald Trump is lying about Ted Cruz," a narrator says in the 30-second spot, titled "Lying," which focuses on Trump's vow to fight illegal immigration despite using foreign workers in his hotels.

"Trump also had a $1 million judgment against him for hiring illegals," the spot states. "And Trump still brings in hundreds of foreign workers to replace Americans," it continues, flashing a darkened image of Trump. "What a phony."

UPDATE: 9:45 a.m. EDT — Some Bernie Sanders supporters in Indiana aren't eager to back Hillary Clinton if she becomes the Democratic presidential nominee.

Heath Hensley, a union electrician who lives in Muncie said he was excited to vote for someone as progressive as Sanders for president. "I’ve just been nuts about him," Hensley told NBC News.

The mainstream Democratic Party has left behind working-class people in favor of college-educated professionals, he said. "I don’t want to see Trump get the nomination, but at the same time I didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008 because I didn’t like her, and I didn’t trust her then, and I do not plan on voting for her now," Hensley said.

Kelly Jay, a musician from South Bend, Indiana, said the Clinton campaign has alienated Sanders supporters. "I think they’re confident that they can win the general election without the progressive faction of the party," he told NBC News.

About 25 percent of Sanders backers nationally have said they won't vote for Clinton in November, while 69 percent said they would vote for the former secretary of state.

UPDATE: 9:20 a.m. EDT — Despite the growing chorus of Republican leaders and pundits urging Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to drop out of the race if he doesn't win Indiana on Tuesday night, Cruz says he is looking ahead to California and other upcoming contests.

David Wasserman of FiveThirtyEight.com deemed the Indiana primary "a desperate last stand for Ted Cruz and the #NeverTrump movement."

"A Cruz loss in Indiana means lights out," longtime Republican strategist Scott Reed told Politico. "Game, set, match."

But Cruz insisted over the weekend that it's going to come down to California's primary on June 7. "We are all-in," he said. "We are going to be competing for all 172 delegates in California and in all 53 congressional districts. It's going to be a battle on the ground, district by district by district."

Cruz said "no one is getting to 1,237." That's how many delegates are needed for a candidate to win the presidential nomination.

Ted Cruz Presidential Candidate Profile | InsideGov

UPDATE: 9:05 a.m. EDT — Indiana voters are also weighing in Tuesday on a handful of important local races. The 2nd District congressional race between incumbent Jackie Walorski and Jeff Petermann on the Republican side and Lynn Coleman and Douglas Carpenter on the Democratic side could shape the future of the U.S. House, while the Senate primary race between U.S. Reps. Marlin Stutzman and Todd Young will see the winner battle U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, a Democrat who is unopposed, in November. They are competing to succeed retiring Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind.

UPDATE: 8:48 a.m. EDT — Surrogates for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, including his vice presidential running mate, Carly Fiorina, and his wife, Heidi, met with voters in Indiana Tuesday morning to encourage them to vote for the Republican presidential candidate.

UPDATE: 8:09 a.m. EDT — “A few technical issues” were reported in at least one county when voting began at 6 a.m. in Indiana, an election worker told IndyStar, but all polls were operational shortly thereafter. Social media reports indicated a heavy voter turnout as many officials had expected ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Ballots cast ahead of the election hit record highs, with more than 270,000 voters, local media reported.

Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, has maintained a lead in polls in the state for months. There are 57 delegates at stake in the state for Republicans. Polls show former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a slight lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the state, where 83 delegates are at stake.

Donald Trump Presidential Candidate Profile | InsideGov

UPDATE: 7:34 a.m. EDT — Donald Trump continues to surpass expectations, achieving milestone after milestone in his presidential campaign. Tuesday was no different as the GOP front-runner reached a new polling high among Republicans, securing 56 percent support of party members, Politico reported. Just last week Trump's support among Republicans sat at 50 percent.

The new poll's findings underscore Trump's surging popularity as he gets closer to clinching the Republican presidential nomination. His closest rival candidate, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, only registered 22 percent support, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich placed a distant third with 14 percent.

Along with the new poll came more damning news for Kasich's campaign: 58 percent of Republicans want to see him suspend his campaign. Even further, polling shows voters are not happy with the campaigns of Kasich and Cruz teaming up in order to prevent Trump from reaching the number of delegates needed for the nomination.

Original story:

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump was poised to win the Republican presidential primary election in Indiana on Tuesday, putting him closer to the GOP nomination amid increasingly frantic efforts by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and party leaders to keep the Donald off the general election ballot in November.

Trump has led opinion polls in Indiana for months, with the state now being seen as Cruz’s last hope in stopping him from reaching the 1,237 delegates needed to win on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention in July. There are 57 delegates at stake in Indiana’s winner-take-all GOP contest.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence threw his backing behind Cruz last week, but such endorsements have done little to sway voters in recent primaries, and it’s unclear how well Cruz will perform in the balloting. Pence also slipped in a few nice words about Trump while announcing his endorsement, a move that may have confused undecided voters.

“I like and respect all three of the candidates in the field. I particularly want to commend Trump,” Pence said at the time, when he noted Trump’s “strong stand for Hoosier jobs.” The governor added, “I’m grateful for his voice in the national debate.”

GOP strategist Russ Schriefer, an adviser of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign before the candidate dropped out of the presidential race, said Cruz has sought to persuade Republican leaders and voters that Trump is not the presumptive nominee. Last week, Cruz named Carly Fiorina as his running mate, an unusual move in a competitive primary season and a likely sign that Cruz is attempting to deflate Trump’s overwhelming support in California before the primary in that state June 7.

“Cruz is playing the hand that he has been dealt as well as he can play it,” Schriefer told the Chicago Tribune. “Whether it’s real or not, optically it’s smart,” he said.

While Christie ultimately supported Trump after he exited the 2016 campaign, many GOP leaders, including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have urged voters to see Trump as an ethically challenged chameleon who would cost the party the election in November. A host of conservative groups spent almost $67 million to run more than 53,000 attack ads against Trump in recent months, to no avail.

In Indiana’s Democratic primary election, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, like Cruz, may be waging a losing battle against the party’s front-runner, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sanders has said he can pull off a win Tuesday in the event voter turnout is high. Railing against efforts to move jobs from Indianapolis to Mexico, he has claimed a victory in the state would send a message that his fight against corporate “greed” is resonating with Democratic voters.

“I think symbolically here you have a Midwest manufacturing state that has prepared to stand up and fight for a political revolution,” Sanders told IndyStar last week.

Polls show Clinton with a thin lead over Sanders in Indiana, and the race likely will be close Tuesday. But even a win for Sanders wouldn’t change the tough road ahead for his campaign. Clinton has won in most states so far and has built a commanding lead in delegates and superdelegates. She is expected to secure the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in July.

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