Photo credit: Gage Skidmore (CC-By-SA 2.0)
The Wyoming Republican Party held their state convention today in Casper, WY where 14 remaining delegates were up for grabs. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) had recently dominated the county conventions held on March 12 winning 9 delegates while Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) won one.
Cruz sweeping the remaining 14 delegates was pretty much a foregone conclusion based on the results of the county conventions. Cruz was the only candidate who actively campaigned in Wyoming, and was the only candidate to directly address the state convention. Idaho Governor Butch Otter spoke as a surrogate for Ohio Governor John Kasich, and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was scheduled to speak on behalf of Donald Trump. The Wyoming GOP announced on Thursday that the Trump campaign informed them Palin would not speak after all.
So Cruz has won a total of 23 delegates in Wyoming with Trump and Rubio earning 1 delegate. There is one undeclared delegate, and the three party delegate slots are also unbound for a total of 29 delegates for the state.
“We had a tremendous show of grassroots support that resulted in a critical victory at today’s Wyoming Republican Convention. This victory continues a momentum shift that started in Utah and carried through Wisconsin, North Dakota and Colorado. Grassroots are rising up. Republicans overwhelmingly elected delegates who will support us at the national convention and nominate us to take on Hillary Clinton. This is how elections are won in America. This is another step in our drive to win a majority of Republicans to be the nominee,” Cruz said in a released statement.
Since March 23rd Cruz has won 102 committed delegates to Trump’s 7. The New York Primary on Tuesday, however, is an opportunity for Trump to turn that around as he is leading in the polls by a wide margin among New York Republicans.