Florida Senator Marco Rubio has won the US Republican primary election in Puerto Rico, where 23 delegates are at stake, according to US media projections.
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Clinton and Sanders compete today in Maine’s nominating contest and face off in a televised debate in Flint, Michigan just two days before a crucial primary in that delegate-rich northern industrial state.
Rubio won 74 percent of the Republican votes in Puerto Rico Sunday.
Meahwhile, Trump said on Sunday that, as president, he would push to change laws that prohibit waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, arguing that banning them puts the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage against Islamic State militants. Rubio, meanwhile, had only won Minnesota. The New York tycoon was a distant second with 13.6 percent of the vote, with Cruz receiving only 9 percent.
On the Democratic side Sanders’ victory in ME caucuses was his third of the weekend after winning Kansas and Nebraska, though Clinton won in Louisiana. Puerto Rico owes creditors $73 billion, and many on the island have called on the US government to craft a bailout package to address it. Party officials estimate more than 30,000 people voted Sunday.
Rubio was seen as somewhat of a favorite to win Puerto Rico, where polling was hard to find in the lead-up to the primary Sunday. About 6,500 inmates are eligible to vote, but their selections won’t be available until Wednesday.
That stop wasn’t just about Puerto Rico.
Many refused to tell the AP who they would vote for last Friday but clearly some stated they would not vote for Donald Trump because “he does not like Latinos”. The pro-statehood party has traditionally attracted Republicans and anyone taking part in the primary had to sign a pledge to support the effort to become the 51st state. “I think he’s going to really suffer from that”, said James Berwich, 50, of Vero Beach.
He has contrasted his steadfast conservative record to Mr Trump’s shifting positions on such issues as abortion and past campaign donations to Democrats, including Mrs Clinton. It takes 2,383 delegates to win.
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“While Sen. Rubio and Donald Trump have spent much of the campaign making personal attacks on one another, Cruz has laid out his substantial vision to make Americans’ lives better and to defeat Clinton in November”, Smith said.
