US Senator Ted Cruz yesterday commanded new momentum in the race for the White House with a solid Wisconsin primary win on Tuesday, making it harder for frontrunner Donald Trump to clinch the Republican nomination outright.
US Senator Bernie Sanders also beat Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Midwestern state, bolstering his claim to be a viable alternative standard-bearer to the former secretary of state and first lady.
Sanders has now won six of the past seven Democratic nominating contests against Clinton.
Photo: Bloomberg
However, the Wisconsin results were almost certainly more damaging for Trump.
The billionaire stormed to the fore last year with a brash anti-establishment message.
However, he has suffered setbacks in recent weeks after a string of controversial comments about abortion, NATO and nuclear weapons.
Cruz captured most of Wisconsin’s 42 Republican delegates, making it far less likely that Trump would win the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination outright.
This raises the prospect of a contested convention in July when the delegates meet to choose the party nominee for the November presidential election.
“Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry,” Cruz told cheering supporters in Milwaukee after he received a hug from Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, one of several former 2016 presidential candidates to have endorsed him. “It is a call from the hard-working men and women of Wisconsin to the people of America. We have a choice, a real choice.”
Trump made no public appearance after the results were announced.
His campaign released a statement that criticized Cruz as, among other things, “worse than a puppet — he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr Trump.”
Cruz and the anti-Trump movement had eyed Wisconsin as a firewall against the real-estate tycoon’s march to become the GOP flag bearer.
Analysts said Tuesday’s vote could alter the trajectory of the Republican race.
“Trump needs every delegate to get to 1,237, and tonight was a significant setback,” veteran election analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said.
“It’s not impossible for Trump to still get there, but the likelihood is that Trump will be a few dozen delegates short of a majority,” he added, meaning the likelihood of a contested convention has increased substantially.
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