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Trump wins big Michigan primary prize with Sanders and Clinton in tight race Trump back on course with big wins in Michigan and Mississippi
(35 minutes later)
Donald Trump put recent wobbles behind him on Tuesday with convincing primary election victories in both Michigan and Mississippi.Donald Trump put recent wobbles behind him on Tuesday with convincing primary election victories in both Michigan and Mississippi.
But a big win for Hillary Clinton in Mississippi was overshadowed by an unexpected challenge from Bernie Sanders in Michigan. The real estate mogul won by double digit margins in both states just days after an underwhelming performance in Louisiana’s primary. Pundits wondered whether Trump’s crude performance in Thursday’s debate – where he bragged about the size of his genitalia – had alienated voters. However, with his wins on Tuesday, the Republican frontrunner quieted those doubts.
The nail-biting Democratic race in the first rustbelt state to vote this election cycle was too close to call by mid-evening, but Sanders was four percentage points ahead by the time a third of votes had been declared. Trump’s win in Michigan was paired with a shock upset by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in the Wolverine State. Both candidates won by appealing to Rust Belt voters with their strong opposition to free trade deals.
Earlier in the evening, Clinton won Mississippi by 88% to 10% , bolstered by her overwhelming support among African American voters.
Exit polls showed that 89% of black voters in the Magnolia State’s Democratic primary supported Clinton and made up 69% of the electorate.
Celebrating his two wins, Trump ridiculed the establishment Republicans who have led recent attacks on him, including heavy negative advertising.Celebrating his two wins, Trump ridiculed the establishment Republicans who have led recent attacks on him, including heavy negative advertising.
“So many horrible things said about me in one week,” said Trump at a press conference outside Palm Beach in Florida. “Thirty-eight million dollars’ worth of lies, it shows you how good the public is that they see these as lies.” “So many horrible things said about me in one week,” said Trump at a press conference outside Palm Beach in Florida. “Thirty-eight million dollars’ worth of lies. It shows you how good the public is that they see these as lies.”
Trump’s position was strengthened by the continued disarray among his opponents. Ohio governor John Kasich came in second in Michigan, trailing by 14 points, but Marco Rubio came fourth with just 7% of the vote. In Mississippi, Ted Cruz came in second, trailing by a similar margin and Rubio barely featured. The negative ads, combined with a slashing attack on Trump by the 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, made no difference against a splintered Republican field.
Forty Republican delegates and 41 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in Mississippi, which are awarded roughly proportionately, but Michigan has 130 delegates for Democrats. In Michigan, Ohio governor John Kasich and Texas senator Ted Cruz finished in a virtual tie behind Trump. Kasich peeled away suburban moderate voters while Cruz roped in heavily evangelical western Michigan.
Before Tuesday’s elections Clinton was ahead of Sanders by 673-477 pledged delegates and – with the vast majority of super delegates too – was nearly halfway to securing the 2,383 total needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. Former congressman Kerry Bentivolio, who voted for Cruz, attributed Trump’s success in Michigan to his emphasis on restoring the manufacturing base in the United States.
Trump was leading Ted Cruz by 384-300 delegates and needs 1,237 to win the nomination outright and be sure of avoiding an uncertain, or “brokered”, national convention in Cleveland this July. “I kind of expected Trump to win Michigan,” Bentivolio told the Guardian, adding that he thought Trump “articulated rather well … the concern about people taking our jobs.”
There are two other Republican nominating contests on Tuesday as well. Idaho Republicans are holding a primary and, in Hawaii, Republicans will caucus. This appeal was made clear by Trump running up a dominating lead in Macomb County, Michigan, a blue-collar area just north of Detroit that is the home of “Reagan Democrats”, the working-class white voters who famously embraced the GOP in the 1980s but swung back to Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
Clinton and Sanders have spent their time in Michigan clashing on the campaign trail and debate stage over trade and the auto industry. John Yob, a well-respected Republican consultant who had worked for years in his home state of Michigan said the numbers there would be a key indicator of Trump’s appeal. His margins there reflected how strongly the bombastic billionaire’s hardline messages on trade and immigration had resonated with frustrated blue-collar voters there.
During the last Democratic debate in Flint, Clinton accused Sanders of being against the auto industry bailout. Sanders said Clinton’s contention was a “mischaracterization” of his 2009 vote against a bill that rescued the auto industry. In Mississippi, Ted Cruz finished in a strong second behind Trump in the Magnolia State but the biggest surprise was the near collapse of Marco Rubio in the state. The Florida senator finished with roughly 5% of the vote there behind even John Kasich. In contrast, Rubio had finished second in several other southern states including South Carolina and Georgia.
Sanders said he opposed that bill because the provision was tied to a larger bailout package to save the Wall Street banks he rails against. Before this vote, he supported for a separate, standalone bill that would have sent billions to rescue the carmakers. Exit polls showed that the Mississippi Republican electorate was deeply conservative and evangelical. Eighty-five percent of voters identified as born-again or evangelical and 84% identified as conservative. However, Trump, a thrice-married New Yorker faced little skepticism from those voters as he completed his sweep of the deep south.
Though Clinton’s path to the nomination is clear, the Democratic race is certainly not over. But on the eve of the Michigan primary, Clinton sounded like a general election candidate. Even more alarmingly for Rubio, the Florida senator did not net a single delegate in either Mississippi or Michigan on Tuesday night. Forty Republican delegates were up for grabs in Mississippi and 59 in Michigan. In contrast, Trump picked more than half the delegates in Mississippi, a crucial threshold in the Republican contest.
“The sooner I could become your nominee the more I could begin to turn our attention to the Republicans,” Clinton told the hundreds of supporters during a rally at the Wright Museum of African American History in downtown Detroit. Current party rules require a candidate to receive a majority of the delegates in eight different states to have their name placed in nomination at the convention. Mississippi became the sixth state where Trump hit that threshold. Cruz has achieved it in three while Marco Rubio has only hit that threshold in one.
Yet just an hour before her appearance there, she was asked during Fox News’ town hall forum if she would consider Sanders as her running mate if she wins the nomination. Trump is leading Ted Cruz by 428-315 delegates and needs 1,237 to win the nomination outright and be sure of avoiding an uncertain, or “brokered”, national convention in Cleveland this July. Both Rubio and Kasich trail far behind.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she told the audience. “I don’t want to think any further than tomorrow and the Michigan primary.” Two additional Republican nominating contests were being held on Tuesday: Idaho Republicans are holding a primary and, in Hawaii, Republicans are caucusing.