Newsletter: Essential Politics: The most important thing about the New York primary results

I’m Christina Bellantoni, and this is Essential Politics.

In many ways it was the Big Apple — for one guy at least.

The primary in New York Tuesday provided a stark example of how differently Republicans and Democrats do things.

A lopsided win yielded a dramatic delegate haul for Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton bested Sen. Bernie Sanders by more than 15%, but only took away 31 more delegates than her rival.

And for all of the effort Ohio Gov. John Kasich put into the Empire State, he earned a lone three delegates for winning Manhattan — Trump’s home turf.

Trump added 89 delegates to his total. That’s because Republicans have a winner-take-most system in New York, awarding delegates both for an overall victory and by each district.

Thanks to that process, Trump is that much closer to the 1,237 delegates he needs, even if Sen. Ted Cruz is outmaneuvering him behind the scenes at the state level in a play to grab the nod at the convention.

Trump made clear Tuesday night he will keep up his drumbeat that party efforts be damned, he believes he’ll be the Republican nominee.

“Nobody can take an election away with the way they’re doing it in the Republican party,” he told supporters in a subdued speech. Cable pundits observed he referred to his chief opponent as “Senator Ted Cruz,” dropping the “Lyin’ Ted” nickname that has become so familiar.

As of today, 73% of the delegates at stake have been awarded. But both contests are marching on to California’s June 7 primary.

Track the delegate race in real time.

Kasich’s team portrayed him as a man with momentum.

“Ted Cruz’s brand of politics simply won’t play with most voters in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland,” Kasich strategist John Weaver wrote in a memo, referring to the states that vote next. “A vote for Cruz in these states is a vote for Trump. And a vote for Cruz or Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton in November because neither of them can win a general election.”

Clinton labeled her effort to capture the Democratic nomination as “in the home stretch.”

“Victory is in sight,” she told supporters at her rally, not long after speakers blared Alicia Keys’ and Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind.”

Clinton pointedly said she’s the only candidate from either party to win more than 10 million votes. She didn’t note the other statistic that her team has been pointing out lately — she has a larger delegate lead over Sanders now than Barack Obama ever had over her in 2008.

Still, thanks to the way Democrats award delegates proportionally, Clinton and Sanders will continue to fight inch-by-inch. Even if she wins big, he’ll still take home some delegates.

Sanders, who had predicted a New York win, headed to Vermont to take a bit of a breather. He insisted to reporters, “We have a path toward victory,” and said he’d be back on the trail after a day off.

We’ll have all the latest on the campaign on Trail Guide. And make sure to follow @latimespolitics.

IS AGE JUST A NUMBER?

Cathleen Decker details how the most persistent aspect of the Democratic presidential contest is that most younger voters are going to Sanders, in large part because they are drawn to his uncompromisingly liberal ideology, while most older voters are going to Clinton because of her determination and deep experience in politics.

“Age is a big deal,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, told Decker.

Sanders proved the theory again in New York Tuesday.

GUN MEASURES MOVE FORWARD

State lawmakers responded to the San Bernardino massacre Tuesday by giving initial approval to a handful of gun control measures, including a bill that would ban assault rifles with detachable magazines. Patrick McGreevy outlines what’s next.

UBER REGULATION BILL DIES

A push to have the state regulate surge pricing for Uber, Lyft and ridesharing companies died in a Senate committee Tuesday evening.

State Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) couldn’t get enough votes to get his measure out of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing, Liam Dillon reports. Committee members said the Legislature should focus on deregulating the taxi industry rather than adding more rules on ridesharing.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

— California voters would have to approve the controversial plan for water tunnels around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta under legislation that cleared its first big hurdle Tuesday in Sacramento.

— Not everyone will be attending Kasich’s speech at the California Republican convention.

— A bill to increase public access to police body camera footage is advancing through the Legislature, though a sticking point continues to be how quickly the public would be allowed to see the videos, Dillon reports.

— Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer sent a letter to the head of the Federal Aviation Administration this week asking the agency to address the spiking number of complaints over new routes at San Francisco International Airport and residents’ fears the same thing will happen there in Southern California.

— Rep. Ted Lieu wants a House Committee to investigate an exploitable flaw in a service connecting most phone carriers worldwide that allows cellphone users to transmit information from text messages to bank account numbers. Lieu participated in a “60 Minutes” segment over the weekend in which German hackers easily recorded his phone conversations and tracked his location using the service.

— Actress Annette Bening is testifying in Sacramento today about credentials for dance and theater teachers.

— What do you think of Trump? Readers can weigh in with our quick survey.

LOGISTICS

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