Providing new evidence that there is no quick end in sight to the fractious Republican Party race for US president, Republican US presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz and Donald Trump on Saturday each captured two victories in a four-state round of primary voting.
Democratic US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders won in Nebraska and Kansas, while Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton took Louisiana, another divided verdict.
Texas Senator Cruz claimed Kansas and Maine, and declared it “a manifestation of a real shift in momentum.”
Photo: Reuters
Trump, still the frontrunner in the hunt for delegates, took Louisiana and Kentucky.
In the overall race for Republican delegates, Trump led with at least 375 and Cruz had at least 291, while rivals Florida Senator Marco Rubio had 123 delegates and Ohio Governor John Kasich had 33. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for US president.
Clinton had at least 1,117 delegates to Sanders’ 477, including superdelegates — members of the US Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination. There were 109 at stake on Saturday.
Cruz, a favorite of the ultraconservative Tea Party movement, attributed his strong showing to conservatives coalescing behind his candidacy, calling it a “manifestation of a real shift in momentum.”
With the Republican race in chaos, establishment figures are frantically looking for any way to derail Trump, perhaps at a contested convention if no candidate can get enough delegates to lock up the nomination in advance. Party leaders — including 2012 US presidential nominee Mitt Romney and 2008 US presidential nominee Senator John McCain — are fearful a Trump victory would lead to a disastrous November election, with losses up and down the Republican ticket.
Trump, at a post-election news conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, declared himself primed for a head-on contest between himself and Cruz, and called for Rubio to drop out.
“I would like to take on Ted one-on-one,” he said, ticking off a list of big states where he said Cruz had no chance. “That would be so much fun.”
Despite the support of many elected officials in Kansas, Rubio came up short, raising serious questions about his viability in the race. Cruz suggested it was time for some Republican candidates to quit the race.
In Maine, Cruz won by a comfortable margin over Trump.
On the Democratic side, Sanders won by a solid margin in Nebraska, and Kansas officials said he had won the state caucuses, giving him seven victories so far in the nominating season. Clinton, who has been doing well with African-American voters, had an easy win in Louisiana.
Clinton hoped that strong support among African-Americans in Louisiana would propel her to victory. Vermonter Sanders, trailing far behind Clinton in the delegate count, had higher hopes of making progress in Nebraska and Kansas, where the Democratic electorate is less diverse.
With Trump yet to win states by the margins he would need in order to secure the nomination before the Republican convention, every one of the 155 Republican delegates at stake was worth fighting for.
It was anger that propelled many of Trump’s voters to the polls.
“It is my opportunity to revolt,” said Betty Nixon, a 60-year-old Trump voter in Olathe, Kansas, adding that she likes the businessman because “he is not bought and paid for.”
Overall, Trump had prevailed in 10 of 15 contests heading into voting. Rubio had one win in Minnesota.
Rubio and Kasich both pinned their hopes on winner-take-all contests on March 15 in their home states.
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