In a surprise turn of events, Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) remained locked in a close race with Donald Trump in Vermont as of 8:55 p.m. ET on Super Tuesday with all of the major news networks deeming the Republican primary too close to call.
The two candidates represent starkly different sides of the GOP electorate, with Trump earning support among the most conservative voters and Kasich going after the support of moderates.
The Vermont Secretary of State sent a tweet putting the early percentages at 35 percent for Trump and 28 percent for Kasich.
107/246 #Vermont towns reporting, the #Republican race is 35/28/19 for Trump/Kasich/Rubio #SuperTuesday pic.twitter.com/b4DwVxq9BX
— VT Sec. of State (@VermontSOS) March 2, 2016
Neither candidate has devoted particular attention to the Green Mountain State, with Kasich visiting twice since the 2016 race started and Trump once.
The real estate mogul held a well-attended rally in the city of Burlington in January, where he said he would relish running against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the general election. Sanders decisively won the Democratic primary vote in his home state on Tuesday night.
This post has been updated.
LOL.
I hope that both VA and VT are “too-close-to-call” even by tomorrow morning… with Drumpf eventually eking out marginal wins in both, and Drumpf over-performing in TX.
Just enough for all the candidates to hang onto the slim desperate ray of hope… and the GOP party apparatus go into full jihad against Drumpf as he continues to actually bank more and more delegates that will eventually put him over the top. But not in a decisive fashion. I want Drumpf attacked mercilessly by the GOP from now until just as the last contest before the convention… where Drumpf juuuust falls over the line with enough to not make it an actual brokered convention.
I will be interested to see what happens should Kasich win in Vermont and Rubio lose in Virginia, giving Kasich and Cruz one state each while Rubio still has none.
Agreed to some extent, but Cruz took Oklahoma as well. Rubio still has an outside shot at Minnesota.
Note that that was not meant to be a prediction, just a “what if” scenario. Cruz winning additional states just ramps up the pressure, since (depending on MN) Rubio might finish behind Trump in every. single. state tonight.
I can’t believe that Kasich is having a better super Tuesday than Rubio. I hope he wins VT just so we can say, ‘Look even Kasich won a state, what is your problem?’ Rubio is clearly unelectable.