Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) won the Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, Saturday,  with neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson coming in a close second. 

Chris Christie came in dead last with 1.1% of the vote. The other establishment favorite, Jeb Bush fared slightly better with 4.42% of the vote. 

The conference was held in New Orleans, this weekend and attended by Republican Party activists, elected officials, and candidates for office.

The full results via the Right Scoop:

In the straw poll, 633 ballots were cast, which was attended by more than 1,500 people. The results were as follows:

1. Ted Cruz — 30.33 percent
2. Ben Carson — 29.38 percent
3. Rand Paul — 10.43 percent
4. Mike Huckabee — 5.06 percent
5. Rick Perry — 4.90 percent
6. Curt Clawson (write-in) 4.58 percent
7. Jeb Bush — 4.42 percent
8. Marco Rubio — 3.32 percent
9. Rick Santorum — 2.37 percent
10. Paul Ryan — 2.05 percent
11. Allen West (write-in) — 2.05 percent
12. Chris Christie — 1.11%

Via The Washington Post:

In total, 65 percent of ballots were cast for minority candidates — Cruz, Carson, Rubio and former congressman Allen West (R-Fla.), who spoke at the conference and took 2 percent of the vote as a write-in.

Here is Senator Cruz’s well received speech:


Correction: Title originally said SRLC instead of RLC. The event changed from Southern Republican Leadership Conference to Republican Leadership Conference in 2011.