Romney wins Pennsylvania primary

Mitt Romney will win Pennsylvania’s primary on Tuesday, an expected result after Rick Santorum exited the presidential race earlier this month.

{mosads}NBC News projected Romney’s win as the polls closed.

The five northeastern states holding primaries on Tuesday offered a combined 209 delegates, with Pennsylvania representing 72, and Romney will win a large majority of them.

The win moves Romney closer to the required 1,144 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination before the GOP convention in August. Romney’s delegate count was 685 before Tuesday’s contests, according to The Associated Press.

---

The GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee faced little opposition in the state after Santorum’s exit. Despite Santorum withholding his endorsement, Romney racked up plenty of support ranging from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett to several of the state’s Republicans in Congress. He spent plenty of time campaigning in Pennsylvania, which is an important swing state in the general election, including stops with high profile Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Rob Portman (Ohio). In Philadelphia on Monday, Romney and Rubio previewed a general campaign strategy against President Obama.

Rep. Ron Paul, meanwhile, made a stab at an upset by taking advantage of the fact that Pennsylvania voters can vote directly for delegates. Paul’s campaign listed the names of his delegates on his campaign website, hoping that informed voters would turn the tide for their candidate, who has yet to win the majority vote in any primary.