Voters in Kansas, Kentucky, Maine and Nebraska caucused on Saturday, while Louisiana held a primary as another chapter in the quests for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations prepared to fall into the history books.
The GOP victory in Kansas went to Ted Cruz, securing 48 percent of the vote. Cruz also won Maine's GOP caucus.
For the Democrats, Bernie Sanders won Kansas, and at 8:05 p.m. Central time CNN projected Sanders as the victor in Nebraska, too, with 55 percent of the vote.
Hillary Clinton claimed the biggest state of the night, however, winning the Louisiana primary, according to the Associated Press projection, with 71 percent of the vote.
Donald Trump was the projected winner for the GOP in Louisiana, with 47.7 percent of the vote to Cruz's 23.7 percent. And Trump was leading Cruz in Kentucky by just 6 percentage points as of 9:50 p.m. Eastern with 46 percent of the vote counted.
In these five states, 178 Republican delegates and 155 Democratic delegates are there for the taking.
While Trump and Clinton are leading in the delegate count, the other candidates have shown no signs they are willing to give up on the contest. The Republican establishment has been trying to rally voters around Marco Rubio, in particular, though Trump leads in state victories and delegate totals.
Rubio's results across the board on Saturday were disappointing. He will likely stay in until the March 15 Florida primary, but it will be difficult for him to justify his position as an alternative to Trump. Thus far, he's only won Minnesota.
Meanwhile, Cruz won the presidential straw poll taken Saturday by the Conservative Political Action Conference, an organization with about 2,700 young, libertarian leaning activists. More than 40 percent preferred Cruz to Rubio, who took 30 percent, and Trump, who earned just 15 percent. John Kasich came in last with 8 percent.
Cruz, speaking from his Idaho campaign headquarters after his Kansas win, again made the case that he is the best alternative to a Trump nomination.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich finished at the bottom of every contest on Saturday. But he's going to press on. Primary contests in Michigan, March 8, and Ohio, March 15, are on deck and he expects to do well there. Kasich believes those states will be game changers.
It's possible the GOP Convention in Cleveland, July 18-21, will be a brokered convention. John Weaver, the chief strategist for the Kasich effort, told Patch no candidate is currently “on track to win the nomination outright” and that the governor was building “for the long-term” to ensure he would be the best nominee for the party.
After winning delegates tonight, Weaver said, the campaign expects to win Ohio on March 15, earning all the state’s 66 delegates, and would shift to a face-off against Trump alone, especially because they believe both Cruz and Rubio will be weaker in future states.
“More than 1,000 delegates will still be available,” according to Weaver. “Cruz needed to get more delegates out of the southeast and caucus states than he was able to get, and his path is closing. The Marco Rubio hype machine is winding down and his bubble will completely pop on March 15 in Florida if he doesn’t win.
"Governor Kasich must win in Ohio to stop Trump, and when he wins Ohio, Kasich clearly becomes the top non-Trump Republican.”
— Patch editor Tony Schinella contributing
KANSAS CAUCUS
Ted Cruz won the Kansas GOP caucus, while Bernie Sanders won for the Democrats. 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. Cruz is leading in the cities and rural areas and with working-class evangelicals.
In 2012, Kansas went for Rick Santorum and in 2008, Mike Huckabee prevailed with Kansas Republicans. A GOP official told CNN turnout was so high that some caucus sites ran out of ballots and more needed to be printed.
KENTUCKY CAUCUS
Election officials say the voter turnout in the Bluegrass State has been "phenomenal." Look here for the vote as it's returned. Vote counting is under way. With just 4 percent of the vote counted, Trump was up over Cruz by 7 percent.
LOUISIANA PRIMARY
Donald Trump was the projected winner in Louisiana. Hillary Clinton easily walked away from the primary with the biggest share of those delegates. Look here for the vote as it's returned. The last polling place closes at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
MAINE CAUCUS
Just before 9 p.m. Eastern time, Ted Cruz was declared the GOP victor in the Maine caucus. Trump was favored to win on the momentum he picked up on Super Tuesday and the endorsement from Maine Gov. Paul LePage. Look here for the vote as it's returned. The last polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
NEBRASKA CAUCUS
CNN projected Bernie Sanders as the winner in the Democratic caucus shortly after 8 p.m. Central time. The predominantly white, Midwestern demographics here are reminiscent of Iowa, where Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ran a neck-and-neck race that ever-so-narrowly went to Clinton in February.