Donald Trump won Tennessee’s Republican primary Tuesday night, seizing first place by a long shot over rival senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
Trump had 40 percent of the vote, followed by Cruz with 24 percent and Rubio with 20 percent, with more than 80 percent of precincts reporting.
The real estate mogul’s win in Tennessee is a pointed example of the power he holds over GOP primary voters in this year’s election, as the state chose the most conservative Republican candidates in the past two presidential contests.
Mike Huckabee defeated former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain in 2008, while in 2012, former Sen. Rick Santorum seized first place in the state over Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Rubio had netted the endorsements of two leading Republicans in the state, Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander.
All five of the remaining Republican contenders visited Tennessee last week. Rubio stopped by the eastern portion of the state on Monday, where he told a crowd that Trump was a “con artist.” Trump appeared Saturday in Millington alongside New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has endorsed him.
Cruz, Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich made stops in Nashville on Saturday.
Tennessee sends 58 delegates to the Republican convention, just 2 percent of total delegates the presidential contenders are competing for.
The state operates on a winner-take-most system, in which the winner in each congressional district gets two delegates and the second-place finisher gets one. But if one candidate finishes above 67 percent in a district, he gets all of the delegates. Thirty-one of Tennessee’s delegates are awarded on a statewide basis.
Carson and Kasich took fourth and fifth place, respectively.
