Ted Cruz Wins Kansas Republican Caucus, Despite Endorsements for Rubio

With more than 70% of precincts reporting, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has easily won the Kansas Republican Caucus on Saturday, PPD projects. Cruz’s victory is yet another rejection of the Republican Establishment and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who had endorsements from Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Sen. Pat Roberts.

UPDATE: Kansas Republican Caucus Vote Totals, Vote Shares and Delegate Estimates Table

While Sen. Cruz is clearly running a solid first, Sen. Rubio is trailing far behind second place with just roughly 14% of the vote, while businessman Donald J. Trump earned roughly 25% of the vote.

Republicans are caucusing in Kansas, Kentucky and Maine, while Democrats are caucusing in Kansas and Nebraska. Republicans and Democrats also are voting Saturday in the Louisiana primary. Kentucky was previously a primary but Sen. Rand Paul pushed for the state to change to a caucus so he could appear on the ballot while running for president, which he has since suspended.

In total Saturday, 109 Democratic delegates are up for grabs, while Republicans are competing for 155. Clinton leads Sanders 1,066 to 432 in the delegate race. Either needs 4,763 to win the party nomination.

On the Republican side, Trump leads with 329 delegates, followed by 231 for Cruz, 110 for Rubio and 25 for Kasich. The GOP canidate needs 2,472 to win the nomination, with increasing talk, particularly within the GOP establishment, about having a so-called “broker convention” to stop Trump’s insurgent candidacy.