Texan Senator Ted Cruz boosted his chances to challenge Republican frontrunner Donald Trump after two impressive wins in the Super Saturday contests while Democrat Bernie Sanders added two more states to his tally to stay as a strong contender against Hillary Clinton for While House nomination.
Victories in delegate-rich Louisiana and Kentucky helped Trump (378 delegates) maintain a lead in race for 1237 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. Cruz, now has 295 delegates.
On the Democratic side, a win in Louisiana’s primary brings former Secretary of State Clinton closer to her goal of winning the 2,383 delegates. Including super-delegates, Clinton has so far won 1121 delegates with Sanders’s 479.
Republican Marco Rubio had a rough night with no win and even fell below the threshold in Louisiana. He now faces a must-win situation in his home state of Florida on March 15. After a disappointing performance, Governor John Kasich also must win his home state of Ohio the same day to keep alive any chances of staying in the race.
The Super Saturday saw Republicans voting for Louisiana and caucusing in Kansas, Maine and Kentucky. Democrats held primary in Louisiana and caucuses in Kansas and Nebraska.
Cruz, who has been trying to win Evangelical votes, scored wins in Kansas and Maine and gave a close fight to Trump in Kentucky.
Sanders easily won Kansas and Nebraska, but lost with a big margin to the Democratic establishment favorite Clinton in Louisiana.
On Super Tuesday, Trump and Clinton won most of the 11 primaries and caucuses when hundreds of delegates were at stake.
While Trump notched up Louisiana, the night belonged to Cruz who cemented his position as an alternative to the real-estate magnet who faces an intense opposition from his party’s conservative establishment.
“The scream you hear, the howl that comes from Washington, D.C., is utter terror at what we the people are doing together,’ Cruz told his supporters at an Idaho rally which will hold its primary on Tuesday.
Trump appeared to be ready for one-on-one contest with Cruz, greeting the Texan Senator for his wins, but with a pinch of salt. “He should do well in Maine because it’s close to Canada,” Trump said with an obvious reference to birther controversy over his eligibility for presidential nomination. The billionaire called on Rubio to drop out from the race.
All the top four candidates from the two parties will now head to a series of high-states, high-delegates races in the coming weeks.
