Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has turned his focus to Pennsylvania following a crushing defeat to front-runner Donald Trump in the New York primary.

Speaking at a rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Cruz poked fun at Trump saying, "Upon winning his home state, Donald with a characteristic display of humility, declared this race is over, Manhattan has spoken and if the rest of the voters would quietly go home now and allow him to give the general election to Hillary, all would be better."

Trump's crushing defeat of Ted Cruz in Tuesday's primary election tilted the energy in the Republican race back to the front-runner, just as Republican National Committee members begin meeting in Florida on Wednesday to discuss their July convention, where the nominee will be chosen.

Cruz, a 45-year-old U.S. senator from Texas, came in third in New York and gave his primary night speech in Philadelphia, where he was already focused on the Pennsylvania contest. He called on Republicans to unite around his candidacy.

Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, a long-shot candidate, sought to use his second-place showing in New York as proof he is emerging as Trump's central challenger.

Trump won at least 89 delegates in New York, while Kasich got at least three, according to a count by the Associated Press. Cruz did not win any, prompting Trump adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders to urge him Wednesday on CNN to "get out of the way" once the math of delegate counts makes it impossible for him to prevail.

New York boosted Trump's delegate tally to 845, while Cruz has 559 and Kasich 147, according to the AP. Next Tuesday's contests offer 172 delegates for Republicans and more than 460 for Democrats.