March 22, 2016 AZ Primary, UT Caucus and AS Caucus

< March 15  |  March 22  |  April 1-3 >
March 22 Dems:
AZ, ID, UT 

107 Delegates
Summary
:  Arizona, a winner-take-all state with 58 delegates, was the big prize of the day and Trump easily prevailed.  Cruz had an even stronger win in Utah approaching 70 percent of the vote; by winning a majority of the vote (50% +1) he won all 40 delegates.  

ARIZONA PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE PRIMARY (58 delegates)

Official Results - Arizona Secretary of State  |  Ballot [PDF]
TRUMP CRUZ
RUBIO*
KASICH
MORE (10)
TOTAL
286,743
(46%)
172,294
(28%)
72,304
(12%)
65,965
(11%)
26,733
(4%)
624,039
Carson 14,940 (2%), Bush 4,393 (1%), Paul 2,269, Huckabee 1,300, Fiorina 1,270, Christie 988,
Santorum 523, Graham 498, Pataki 309, T.Cook 243

Winner take all.

Early voting began on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.

Organization:  BUSH  |  CRUZ  |  FIORINA  |  KASICH  |  PAUL  |  RUBIO  |  TRUMP


OVERVIEW

Arizona boiled down to a battle between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.  Trump made an early splash with a big rally on July 15, 2015 in Phoenix.  Immigration was a key issue.  Trump has made building a wall on the border with Mexico a centerpiece of his campaign since early on; more recently he secured the endorsements of immigration hardliners Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Gov. Jan Brewer.  Cruz visited the Arizona-Mexico border on March 18 and ran an ad featuring a man whose son was killed by an illegal immigrant.  Cruz secured endorsements of four of the five Republican U.S. House members. 

Turnout in the Republican primary was 55.43% or 625,770 ballots cast out of 1,128,879 registered Republicans.  The outcome was not close, as Trump amassed a plurality of more than 100,000 votes.  The results also show the untoward consequences early voting can sometimes have.  Rubio, who suspended his campaign on March 15, obtained more votes than Kasich who is an active candidate in the race.  

As much a story as outcomes of the Republican and Democratic contests were the long lines and confusion, which Secretary of State Michele Reagan termed "completely unacceptable (+)."  Particular attention focused on Maricopa County where the County Recorder only had 60 poliing locations running (there are over 1.9 million registered voters, and 724 voting precincts in the county).

Note
: Registered independent voters could not participate in the presidential primary; see a proposal from Secretary of State Michele Reagan.


REACTION
Arizona Republican Party
March 23, 2016

Republican Voters Support Donald Trump for Nomination

Chairman Robert Graham Congratulates Donald Trump on Victory as Delegate Selection Process Begins

PHOENIX – This morning Chairman Robert Graham of the Arizona Republican Party congratulated Donald Trump on his decisive victory yesterday in Arizona’s Republican Presidential Preference Election.

“There is no question the voters in the Republican Party are motivated, engaged, and eager to put a Republican in the White House and keep our majorities in the U.S. House and Senate,” said Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham. “Trump’s victory yesterday was decisive and our delegates to the Republican National Convention have a clear mandate from our party’s voters to support him for the nomination.”

The party will elect 55 delegates to attend the Republican National Convention, joined by Chairman Robert Graham, National Committeeman Bruce Ash, and National Committeewoman Sharon Giese for a total of 58 delegates bound by law to vote for Donald Trump. The election of the national delegates will take place April 30th at the Mesa Convention Center.

Additional information about the state and national delegate selection process, including local delegate elections that begin this week, is available at www.azgop.org.


DELEGATES
National delegate allocation:  Trump 58.

LD and County Meetings:  Late March and early April 2016.
State Convention:  April 30, 2016 at Mesa Convention Center in Mesa, AZ.
                            - CD Caucuses (3 Delegates and 3 Alternates each; total 27)
                               - Convention then elects 28 Delegates and 28 Alternates
AZ GOP: How to Become a Delegate...

Delegates





UTAH PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE CAUCUS (40 delegates)

Results from AP with 88.68% precincts  Utah Republican Party  |  Caucus Rules [PDF]
CRUZ KASICH
TRUMP

TOTAL
122,567
(69.17%)
29,773
(16.80%)
24,864
(14.03%)



                                              Winner take all if a candidate secures a majority of the statewide vote.


Organization: CRUZ  |  KASICH  |  RUBIO  |  TRUMP                                

OVERVIEW
Sen. Marco Rubio had been strongly organized in Utah, but he ended his campaign on March 15.  Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign was also well organized; he secured the endorsement of Sen. Mike Lee and even the support of former Gov. Mitt Romney.  Gov. John Kasich made a strong play in Utah, lining up endorsements from at least 19 current state legislators; the pro-Kasich super PAC New Day for America also had a presence.  Donald Trump was not expected to do well in Utah.  He did hold a rally late in the campaign, on March 19, at Infinity Event Center in Salt Lake City, and his campaign also weighed in with late TV advertising against Cruz, spending "around $160,000" according to Politico.

Neither Trump nor Kasich got any delegates out of Utah because Cruz easily achieved a majority, thereby making the allocation winner-take-all.

This was Utah Republicans' first ever Presidential Preference Caucus (Utah Republicans have in past used a presidential primary).  The Utah Republican Party set up a process in which voters could vote in-person, online or absentee.  There were about 2,100 caucus locations around the state.  The online aspect of the voting had its detractors (1), and KSL found some voters "encountered technical difficulties" (2), but the company that produced the system reported most participants had a good voting experience (+).

A proposed RNC-sanctioned debate to be hosted by FOX News Channel in Salt Lake City on March 21, was canceled on March 16 after Donald Trump said he would not participate (+).

Notes
1. Issie Lapowsky.  "Utah's Online Caucus Gives Security Experts Heart Attacks."  Wired, March 21, 2016.
2. Morgan Jacobsen.  "Utah GOP voters having trouble voting online."  KSL.com, March 22, 2016.


DELEGATES
National delegate allocation:  Cruz 40.


County Conventions:  March 30-April 22, 2016.
Nominating Convention:  April 23, 2016 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. 

Delegates


                  


AMERICAN SAMOA PRESIDENTIAL CAUCUS (9 delegates)

Republican Party of American Samoa fb



Organization: CRUZ   |  TRUMP           


OVERVIEW
The caucus was held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Veteran's Hall in Tafuna Industrial Park in Pago Pago.  According to the Republican Party of American Samoa this was "one of the best-attended caucuses in American Samoa's history (+)."  The result was an unbound delegation of nine delegates and six alternates.

However, following Donald Trump's win in the May 3 Indiana primary and his ascendance to presumptive nominee, the delegates met and pledged to support him (+).


DELEGATES
Initial national delegate allocation:  Unbound 9.
National delegate allocation from May 3:  Trump 9.


March 22 - Republican Party of American Samoa Delegates [photo courtesy RPAS]




May 3 - Republican Party of American Samoa Delegates Pledge to Support Trump [photo courtesy RPAS]