Donald Trump won the Nevada Republican caucuses by a huge margin, chalking up his third straight triumph in the party’s presidential nomination process and building momentum ahead of a critical multistate vote next week.
Trump got 45.9 percent of the vote, with Senator Marco Rubio 22 percentage points behind after garnering 23.9 percent. Senator Ted Cruz was in third place with 21.4 percent.
“This is an amazing night,” Trump told cheering supporters in a victory speech after Tuesday’s vote.
Photo: AFP
“We weren’t expected to win too much and now we’re winning, winning, winning the country,” Trump said. “And soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning.”
The result underscored the enormous challenge Trump’s rivals face as the candidates head into next week’s all important “Super Tuesday” contests involving 11 states.
An ecstatic Trump said his win was broadly based, including strong support among Hispanics. He angered many early in the campaign by saying Mexico sends rapists across the border to the US.
“We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated,” he said. “I love the poorly educated. We’re the smartest people. We’re the most loyal people.”
The remaining two candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, Ben Carson and Ohio Governor John Kasich, lagged far behind with 4.8 percent and 3.6 percent respectively.
Cruz said he was the only candidate who could beat Trump and who has won a primary — he prevailed in Iowa — and said he was now setting his sights on next Tuesday’s crucial contests.
“One week from today will be the most important night of this campaign,” Cruz said.
Trump had been all but certain to triumph in Nevada, with the big question being whether Rubio — favored by mainstream Republicans — could clinch second place.
The contest was the fourth for the Republican presidential candidates, with Trump also winning in New Hampshire and South Carolina. He came second in Iowa.
Although the caucus in Nevada is not expected to have a significant impact on the overall race — only 30 delegates or slightly more than 1 percent of the total are up for grabs — it was the first contest for the Republicans in the western US.
It is also the first test of Republican voter sentiment after former Florida governor Jeb Bush pulled out of the race last week.
Trump expressed optimism that he might effectively clinch the nomination quickly.
“It’s going to be an amazing two months,” Trump said. “We might not even need the two months, to be honest.”
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, assistant professor of political science Dan Lee said the latest caucus came as mainstream Republicans are grudgingly accepting the fact that Trump might well end up the party’s nominee given his seemingly unstoppable winning streak.
“A lot of Republicans — especially the Republican establishment, professionals, governors — don’t really want Trump to win the nomination,” Lee said. “They want to get Cruz out and have Rubio go against Trump.”
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