- The Road to Cleveland « March 22, 2016 Republican Contests in Arizona, Utah and American Samoa
March 22, 2016 AZ Primary, UT Caucus and AS Caucus
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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)
TRUMP | CRUZ |
RUBIO* |
KASICH |
MORE (10) |
TOTAL |
286,743 (46%) |
172,294 (28%) |
72,304 (12%) |
65,965 (11%) |
26,733 (4%) |
624,039 |
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...
UTAH PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE CAUCUS (40 delegates)
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.
AMERICAN SAMOA PRESIDENTIAL CAUCUS (9 delegates)
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]