Kansas voters received a lot of attention from the presidential candidates this campaign. And lines at the caucus sites were huge.
Donald Trump follows with 24.4 percent; Marco Rubio trails with 14.8 percent and John Kasich follows at 8.9 percent.
Very early Kentucky returns showed Trump and Cruz virtually tied.
Kansas voters gathered to caucus Saturday for the Republican and Democratic candidates for president, and long lines marked the occasion as interest in the nomination campaigns nears that of the historic 2008 election. This year, the GOP printed 60,000 ballots (compared to 30,000 in 2012) and had to go to a print shop today to get more, CNN reports.
Cruz was leading in the rural areas and in the cities.
In recent days, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Rubio each paid a visit to Kansas. On Saturday morning, Trump appeared at a Wichita rally, where he was booed by Cruz supporters, and Cruz appeared at his own rally in the same location just an hour later.
Democrat results will be available soon. The lines at Democratic caucus sites were so long that the venues could not accommodate all the people coming to support a candidate. Voters were forced to "sign in" for their preferred candidate and leave to make room for more people.
Kansas GOP and Dem caucus results will be posted in frequent updates. More Results: Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska More Politics: Obama Was Gay Prostitute, Dems Killed JFK, says Leading Texas Board of Education Candidate Cruz spoke to reporters after his victory speech.
"I think what we saw in Kansas was a real manifestation of a shift," Cruz said, noting that Kansas, Maine and CPAC are very different groups of voters. "Now is the time for us to come together."
Cruz said the results of Saturday show that people fear a Trump nomination, which would be a disaster.
"We have beaten Donald not once, not twice but seven times now," Cruz said, noting that he is adding to his delegate numbers.
Cruz said he will compete "vigorously" in Florida to try to knock Rubio out. To this point, Rubio has only won the state of Minnesota.
"We are running a national campaign. We are competing in all 50 states," Cruz said.
With the nominations still in question, and the Republican Party in particular locked in an existential battle with Trump, Kansas votes matter more than they have in elections past.
On the Republican side in Kansas, voters gathered at 102 caucus sites based on county. Democrats assembled at 47 sites based on state senate districts.
"There's a lot of attention being given to Kansas. Often times in the calendar of primaries and caucuses, the nomination is already done by now. But in both the Republican and Democratic races ... Kansas does matter," Sen. Anthony Hensley told WIBW TV before the caucuses opened.
I believe the technical term for the size of this line is ginormous #KSCaucus pic.twitter.com/HM1TlgksN3
— Bryan Lowry (@BryanLowry3) March 5, 2016
Click for Full Text!
Poster Comment:
Yawn. Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota maybe Nebraska - all against Trump. Big Shocker /s NeoVangelast-religionists turned Talmudists Results at the link