Subject: Ted Cruz wins lion's share of delegates at state conventions in Arizona, Virginia - Washington Times
From: "Bennett, Eric" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 1 May 2016 15:03:50 -0700

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/1/ted-cruz-wins-lions-share-of-delegates-at-state-co/

Ted Cruz wins lion’s share of delegates at state conventions in Arizona, Virginia

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz</topics/ted-cruz/> succeeded Saturday in picking up more delegates at state GOP</topics/republican-party/> conventions in Arizona and Virginia, advancing his plan to win the nomination at a contested national convention.

Mr. Cruz</topics/ted-cruz/> suffered painful loses to front-runner Donald Trump</topics/donald-trump/> in both states but positioned party activists at the state conventions to elect the majority of his supporters as delegates.

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“Trump</topics/donald-trump/> got cheated,” said Jeff DeWit, chairman of the Trump campaign in Arizona. “Somebody messed with the system.”

The Cruz campaign has put together a top-notch operation for the state conventions to guarantee he has an army of supporters on the floor this summer at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Having delegates ready to switch their vote is key to the Texas senator’s plan to win the nomination at a contested convention in July, provided he can block Mr. Trump</topics/donald-trump/> from securing the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination on the first ballot.

In Arizona, Cruz</topics/ted-cruz/> loyalists won nearly all but two of the 28 at-large delegate and about half of the 27 congressional district delegates. All of the state’s 58 delegates are bound to Mr. Trump</topics/donald-trump/> on the first ballot, but could switch sides in later ballots.

Only about a dozen of Mr. Trump</topics/donald-trump/>’s supporters won delegate slots at the state convention in Mesa, Arizona.

At the state GOP</topics/republican-party/> convention in Virginia, Mr. Cruz</topics/ted-cruz/>’s supporters won 10 of the 13 at-large delegates. Mr. Trump</topics/donald-trump/> won three.

Virginia’s delegates also are bound for the first ballot, with 17 for Mr. Trump</topics/donald-trump/>, eight for Mr. Cruz</topics/ted-cruz/> and five for Mr. Kasich. Another 16 delegates are for Sen. Marco Rubio, who has dropped out of the race.