Clinton and Trump dominate Arizona primary election

March 23, 2016

Left: Donald Trump speaking at his rally in Tucson on Saturday March 19. Right: Hillary Clinton speaking at her rally in Phoenix on Monday March 21.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump came out on top in yesterday’s Arizona presidential-preference election.

Arizona, being one of the final winner-take-all primary election contests for the Republican Party, further establishes Donald Trump as the party’s front-runner. Trump, who held two rallies on Saturday in both Tucson and Fountain Hills, grabbed all 58 delegates available in Arizona—dominating the polls in a state that classically votes red with 47.1 percent of the vote over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who came in second with 24.9 percent of the vote. Ohio Gov. John Kasich brought up the rear of the Republican Party with 10 percent of the vote.

For Democrats, rather than having a winner-take-all race like the party across the aisle, delegates were distributed to the candidates on a proportional scale based on who received the most votes. Clinton took home 41 delegates with 57.6 percent of the vote over her opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who took home 26 delegates at just 39.9 percent of the vote.

Not only did Trump and Clinton run away with the largest percentage of Arizona voters, they also ran away with winning the largest percentage of Arizona’s counties. Clinton and Trump both won every single county in Arizona with the exception of Graham County for Trump—which went to Cruz—and Coconino County for Clinton, which was won by Sanders.

Hillary Clinton holds rally in Phoenix prior to Arizona primaries.

Bernie Sanders ‘berns’ Tucson for a second time.

Last night’s results are no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to Arizona’s most recent polls.

Last week’s poll conducted by Arizona State University professor emeritus Bruce Merrill showed Clinton leading Sanders with 50 percent of Democrats saying they would vote for her, and just 24 percent saying they would support Sanders. The Republican predictions were much the same story: Trump led the poll with 31 percent over second place Cruz, who polled at 19 percent.

The next primary contests are on March 26 with the Alaska Democratic caucus, the Hawaii Democratic caucus and the Washington Democratic caucus.

All percentages and numbers in this article are at the time of press Tuesday night, with over 50 percent of precincts reporting.

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