“Lyin’ Ted Cruz can’t get votes” tweets Donald Trump, prompting Sen. Ted Cruz to tweet his claim that stating that 1.3 million people in five states have recently picked Cruz over Trump.
Trump tweeted:
Cruz replied:
Trump also tweeted:
Here are the numbers behind Cruz’s claim.
Utah: More than 177,000 people voted in Utah’s Republican primary. Cruz won the March 22 Utah primary election with an overwhelming 69 percent of the vote, giving Cruz all of the state’s 40 delegates.
The same day Trump won a significant victory in Arizona’s presidential preference election, where he got more than 47 percent of the 530,000-plus votes, giving Trump all of the state’s 58 delegates.
Wyoming: On March 12, Cruz won 66 percent support in caucus votes, giving him nine Wyoming delegates. One delegate went to Trump and another to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s suspended campaign. The remaining 14 selected delegates were picked from Cruz’s slate during the April 17 voting at the state Republican convention.
North Dakota: This state’s Republican party did not hold a primary election or caucus. Instead on April 2, Republicans at the party’s state convention chose 25 unbound delegates. Eighteen of the delegates were listed on the preferred list for the Cruz campaign and one was a preferred Trump delegate.
Wisconsin: Over one million voted in the Wisconsin Republican primary. More than 48 percent of Wisconsin Republican primary voters backed Cruz. The result was far above expectations from preceding poll results. Cruz came out with 36 delegates to Trump’s six delegates.
Colorado: In seven Colorado district caucuses, Cruz picked up 17 pledged delegates while the four other delegates were unpledged for the first round vote for the Republican presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention. Another 13 delegates who are pledged to Cruz on a first round vote at the convention, were chosen at the state party convention.
During a recent speech in San Diego, California, Cruz asserted “Donald, 65,000 people voted in the state of Colorado, they just didn’t vote for you, they voted for our campaign.”
The Colorado Republican party decided last August not to hold a caucus.
In prior years results of caucus voting did not bind delegates. The decision came after a Republican National Committee rules change to require that delegates be bound to the results of the caucus.
In 2012, approximately 66,000 voters participated in Colorado’s 2012 Republican presidential primary caucus according to the New York Times. Those results showed Rick Santorum taking the majority of the vote over eventual nominee Mitt Romney. In 2008 Romney received the majority of the vote over that year’s eventual nominee John McCain.
Trump tweeted following the Colorado delegate selection:
Just one day later Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner tweeted in defense of his state party’s system:
The Cruz did not immediately respond when questioned on the breakdown of the 1.3 million people mentioned in Cruz’s Sunday tweet.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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