Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders all notched victories in Tuesday’s primaries and caucuses in Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. But Trump and Sanders came out ahead, ending the night having picked up the most delegates in their quest for their parties’ nominations.
Election 2016 results: Arizona primaries, Utah and Idaho caucuses
Trump and Cruz split the two Republican contests — Trump won big in Arizona and Cruz won bigger in Utah.
But Trump ends the night expanding his delegate lead, since both states ended up being winner-take-all, and Arizona is the larger state. Trump ended up with 754 delegates (placing him 61 percent of the way to the 1,237 delegates he needs for the nomination) compared to Cruz’s 463.
And for Democrats, Hillary Clinton won a solid victory in Arizona, but Bernie Sanders won even larger victories in Utah and Idaho. According to the Associated Press, Sanders picked up 57 delegates to Clinton’s 51. However, he still trails in overall pledged delegates by more than 300 — and the Democrats’ delegate rules make that gap incredibly difficult for him to close at this point.
Arizona primary
Who voted: Republicans and Democrats
Republican delegates at stake: 58 delegates, winner-take-all
Democratic delegates at stake: 75 delegates, awarded proportionally
Republican result: Donald Trump won decisively, with about 47 percent of the vote compared to Ted Cruz’s 25 percent. Arizona is a winner-take-all state, so Trump comes away with all 58 of its delegates — which helps him continue his progress toward the 1,237 delegates he needs to win an outright majority. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz came in second, but John Kasich couldn’t even to beat a candidate who dropped out, Marco Rubio (though in fairness, there was lots of early voting in Arizona, so many of these voters cast their ballots when Rubio was still in the race).
Democratic result: Hillary Clinton won a similarly decisive victory, with about 58 percent of the vote to Bernie Sanders’s 40 percent, showing once again that she performs very strongly in states where a significant portion of the Democratic electorate is nonwhite.
Utah caucuses
Who voted: Republicans and Democrats
Republican delegates at stake: 40 delegates, awarded proportionally. Any candidate who wins a majority of voters gets all the delegates.
Democratic delegates at stake: 33 delegates, awarded proportionally
Republican result: Ted Cruz romped to an easy victory, winning about 69 percent of the vote. John Kasich took second place with around 17 percent, and frontrunner Donald Trump was back in third with 14 percent. This was no surprise, as Trump is deeply unpopular with Mormons. The scope of Cruz’s victory ensures he’ll pick up all 40 of Utah’s delegates, but since Arizona is a bigger state, Trump still comes out ahead on the night.
Democratic result: Bernie Sanders crushed Hillary Clinton, winning about 80 percent of the vote compared to her 20 percent or so. Again, a Sanders win was expected, but the extent of the landslide he got is surprising.
Idaho caucuses
Who voted: Just Democrats
Democratic delegates at stake: 33 delegates, awarded proportionally
Democratic result: Bernie Sanders’s enormous win in Idaho nearly matched his win in Utah — he got 78 percent of the vote to Clinton’s mere 21 percent. When all of Tuesday’s results are combined, Sanders will likely pick up somewhat more delegates than Clinton. But he’ll still trail her in pledged delegates overall by 300 or so.
