And Donald Trump will try to run the table, with four Republican contests on tap.
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MI is the crown jewel Tuesday as voters in four states deliver verdicts on the presidential campaign.
With Tuesday’s wins, Trump leads the GOP field with 428 delegates, followed by Cruz with 315, Rubio with 151 and Kasich with 52.
The proposal – championed by Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump – was even more popular in MS, where 7 out of 10 Republicans favored a ban on Muslim travel.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich also posted a strong showing and is in a close race for second with Texas Sen.
Still, a Monmouth University poll of MI on Monday showed Trump with a big lead and again benefitting from a split opposition against him.
Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant on Monday endorsed Cruz, although Bryant did not appear at the campaign event in Florence.
Cruz won rowdy applause Monday by saying he will protect gun owners’ rights, eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and nominate strict constitutionalists to the Supreme Court. With its 59 delegates, MI is the biggest prize of the night. The Texas senator, however, will be looking for a strong performance in MS and a second-place finish in MI to bolster his case that he – and not Rubio – is the only viable alternative to Trump.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders secured a surprise victory in Michigan Tuesday, sending a clear message out to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which nonetheless managed to win big in MS after attracting nine out of every 10 Black voters, according to exit polls. Rubio, for instance, has hovered near the cutoff threshold in voter surveys. He picked up 39% of those voters in Virginia, for example, according to exit polls. Neither Clinton nor Sanders made it there.
“It has to happen here, and it has to happen now”, Rubio told supporters Tuesday during a rally in Sarasota.
What Tuesday’s contests could demonstrate is whether there’s enough late movement to help Trump’s rivals – particularly since the week leading up to the debate featured the most explosive Republican debate yet.
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders concentrated on MI, which also has primaries Tuesday.
MI fell into his column; whether that can threaten Clinton’s big advantage at this point is a question more big states will answer. But Clinton, who won MS, padded her delegate lead and is now halfway to the number needed to clinch the nomination.
That state has 36 Democratic delegates up for grabs and 40 on the Republican side.
“The money was there and had to be released in order to save the auto industry and 4 million jobs and to begin the restructuring”.
“I voted with my heart, not my head”, she said.
“I think she’s the most qualified for the job”. Added Claire, 31: “If they can’t communicate with each other, people who in theory share their same beliefs, how in the world are they going to communicate with people who don’t?” The former secretary of state holds an overall lead of around 200 pledged delegates over Sanders, whose spirited campaign has enlivened grass-roots Democrats and tugged her to the left on some key issues. But his heart already is in Florida, where early voting is under way for the March 15 winner-take-all primary.
Can Sanders really hold his own in MI? A Clinton loss, though, means Missouri, Ohio and potentially IL could be in play.
Trump has scored well in Southern states despite the appeal of Cruz’s conservatism and MS was another notch on that belt.
So imagine this scenario: Kasich beats Rubio in MI.
Cruz, the conservative firebrand, has put up the toughest fight against Trump, staying within range in the delegate hunt and aiming to become the last challenger standing against the billionaire if Rubio and Kasich can’t win their home states March 15.
“He doesn’t say wrong things”, Owen said outside a beach-side Bay St. Louis church where he voted Tuesday in Mississippi’s Republican presidential primary.
There are a lot of “ifs” for that to happen.
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Roughly 60 percent said they believe Clinton to be honest and trustworthy, versus about 80 percent for Sanders, Politico reported. Winning the Republican nomination requires 1,237 delegates. Kasich hasn’t won a state yet but is hoping to emerge as the primaries move to the Midwest – including his home state – next week.
