Trump Hangs On to Michigan

Cruz edges Kasich for 2nd place
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 8, 2016 8:18 PM CST
Updated Mar 9, 2016 1:22 AM CST
Trump Hangs On to Michigan
A supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waits for his news conference to begin at the Trump National Golf Club on Tuesday in Jupiter, Fla.   (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Tuesday night's "crown jewel," as the AP puts it, is Michigan, and Donald Trump is king of the evening on the GOP side. Polls closed at 9pm EST, and NBC News called the race for Trump shortly after. With more than 99% of the vote in, Trump has 36.5% of the vote, giving him 25 of the state's 59 delegates. The race for second was a close one, but Ted Cruz edged John Kasich 24.9% to 24.3%, giving each man 17 delegates each, per the Washington Post. Marco Rubio is fourth with 9.3%, well below the 15% threshold required to win any delegates.

Michigan had been teed up as Kasich's big test: He's long had his eye on his home state of Ohio, which votes on March 15. And as his chief strategist told ABC News last month, "The road to Ohio in this case leads through Michigan." The Detroit Free Press reports that turnout was huge, with at least 2.4 million people casting ballots, up from the record set in 1972, when 1.9 million voted in the state's presidential primaries. (Sanders was projected to win Michigan on the Democrat side; Trump and Hillary Clinton won Mississippi earlier.)

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