Photo: Alex Holt/ The Washington Post/ Getty Images.After last week’s Democratic Nevada caucuses, it’s finally the GOP’s turn. As the results trickle in, Donald Trump has emerged as the latest Republican victor.
This is the third consecutive victory for the reality TV personality and real estate mogul after an evening of local news reports concerning ballot shortages, instances of identification going unchecked, and other problems at the caucus sites.
Senator Marco Rubio maintained a narrow lead over Senator Ted Cruz for the runner-up position, claiming at least eight delegates to Cruz’s six. Washoe County, where the city of Reno is located, favored Rubio to Cruz by a wide margin. At this writing, Clark County (Las Vegas) had not yet reported. Following Cruz was retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson with two delegates, and Ohio governor John Kasich with one.
Leading up to Tuesday's caucus, the five remaining candidates were out pushing their agendas. At an event on Monday night, Trump encouraged his supporters to get out and vote without being discouraged by the caucuses’ format. “The most important thing we can do— I’m not going to use the word ‘caucus’— I’m just going to use vote,” he said according to ABC News.
Trump’s edge in Nevada was expected, due in part to his high-profile business dealings in Las Vegas, according to The New York Times. But Trump was right to push his supporters to show — Nevada shows a history of low voter turnout for its caucuses. In the 2012 election, only about 32,000, or 8%, of the party’s active voters showed up, according to The Las Vegas Sun. Not today: Unusually high voter turnout was said to be the cause of some chaos, particularly in Clark County, which overwhelmed organizers at some caucus locations, according to the Washington Post.
Trump also held a heavy lead in the time leading up to the caucus. A CNN poll released before Saturday’s Democratic caucus showed Trump as the easy forerunner. Likely Republican caucus-goers supported the businessman by 45%, a heavy lead on Rubio’s 19% and Cruz’s 17%. Carson and Kasich pulled in less than 10% support each.
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