Wins In Texas and Oklahoma Keep Ted Cruz Alive

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz address delegates at the Texas GOP Convention in Fort Worth, Texas Friday, June 6, 2014. Cruz has fired up the Texas Republican Convention, promising to lead a conservative revolution unseen sinc... U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz address delegates at the Texas GOP Convention in Fort Worth, Texas Friday, June 6, 2014. Cruz has fired up the Texas Republican Convention, promising to lead a conservative revolution unseen since the days of Ronald Reagan. The tea party favorite is a possible 2016 presidential candidate, and seemed like one during his speech Friday before thousands of adoring delegates who gave him numerous standing ovations. (AP Photo/Rex C. Curry) MORE LESS

Ted Cruz is projected to win the Lone Star state Tuesday in a major upset that could keep his candidacy afloat and undermine Trump’s narrative that he is unstoppable. MSNBC and Fox News called Texas for Cruz.

His home state of Texas was seen by many in the GOP as Cruz’s best chance to wage a comeback against Trump who had bested him in all of the early states since Iowa. Cruz also won Oklahoma Tuesday.

The polls appeared to tighten in the days leading into the contest. The TPM PollTracker Average showed Cruz leading Trump just slightly, 31.5 percent to 30.1 percent.

Cruz’s win in the state could also put pressure on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to get out of the race as he has yet to win a single early contest.

Not only Texas, but the entire South was supposed to be Cruz’s firewall to stop Trump. It is unclear if Cruz will pull out any other victories in the South Tuesday. He lost Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee early in the evening. The large number of white evangelicals were supposed to overwhelmingly support Cruz, but Trump did surprisingly well among evangelical voters in the South Carolina primary, foreshadowing a vulnerability in Cruz’s Southern-focused strategy.

Cruz has been aggressively focused on Texas since he finished third in the Nevada caucus. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry endorsed Cruz as well as current Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

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Notable Replies

  1. If Lil’ Rube had any self respect, he’d quit before the final insult in Florida.

  2. Ted should be embarrassed that he won his tome state by such a small margin. But, we all know he has no shame.

  3. Avatar for meri meri says:

    On the one hand, I wish he’d lost because he’s a disgusting sack of shit - the kind you see only once every 20-30 years.

    On the other hand, winning means he’ll stretch out his farce even longer. I can’t wait to see what dirty trick he’ll aim at Trump that will backfire entertaingly.

  4. Avatar for deuce deuce says:

    Cruz didn’t get the magical 50.1 % which would have given him 100% of the delegates. Now he has to share them proportionately with Trump and the other-rans.

  5. When was Cruz winning Texas considered an “upset”…?

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