Ted Cruz won at least 64 delegates Saturday, making a small dent in Donald Trump’s lead in the race for delegates to the Republican National Convention this summer.
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“In every closed primary so far, Ted Cruz has over performed and Donald Trump has underperformed”, he wrote. That ad has aired mostly in SC, where Trump topped Cruz, and in the Texas senator’s home state, where Cruz prevailed on Super Tuesday last week. Rubio is a senator from Florida and favored there.
“If a candidate has the 1,237 delegates needed, they’re going to be the nominee”, he said on ABC’s “This Week”, adding that he would “not do anything to prevent someone from getting 1,237”.
The state tally sheets so far: 12 wins for Trump; six for Cruz and one for Rubio.
Clinton was favored in Louisiana thanks to overwhelming support from African-American voters, while Sanders has tended to do best in states with largely white voters.
The heat of the battle to try to knock Donald Trump from the top of the hill as the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination came to a head in accelerated mudslinging Thursday.
Mr. Rubio also claimed a victory Sunday in Puerto Rico’s primary.
Trump acknowledged Cruz’s rise late Saturday and urged Rubio to drop out of the race.
Rubio picked up only a few delegates, unable to capitalize on the establishment assault on Trump, who called on Rubio to step aside.
Graham and Romney spoke on NBC’s “Meet The Press”. Since Hawaii has no threshold, he might snag a delegate or two in the wee hours of the morning, but that’s not much of a consolation.
Cruz, for his part, said his strong showing was “a manifestation of a real shift in momentum”.
“Rubio is within shooting distance in his home state with a week to go in this volatile nomination contest”, said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Finally, on the subject of the Supreme Court vacancy, Graham said “I think we should let the next President decide”. “And it’ll be a whole new ballgame and I’ll be able to compete in a lot of these states”.
In a statement after his victory in Kansas, Sanders pointed to wins in a geographic range of states.
Democrats and Republicans are looking to Michigan Tuesday and the next big prize in the presidential primary season. But it was Cruz who would win by more than a 2-to-1margin in Kansas.
It’s a must-win for Rubio, who has fallen behind Trump and Cruz in the delegate race after taking only two of the first 20 Republican contests.
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The GOP race shows Trump with 384 delegates, Cruz with 300, Sen.
