Donald Trump wins close battle for Kentucky

Donald Trump won a tight battle with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in Kentucky’s Republican presidential caucus late Saturday night.

With the state Republican Party reporting 100 percent of the vote at 11:45 p.m., Trump won by 4.35 percentage points over Cruz.

Trump, a New York businessman, brought his boisterous campaign to Louisville last Tuesday. Cruz, of Texas, did not campaign in Kentucky.

“Thank you, Kentucky!” Trump posted on Twitter at 10:48 p.m.

Kentucky’s 46 delegates to the Republican National Convention will be allocated proportionately by Saturday’s caucus vote. Each candidate who received at least 5 percent of the total votes cast at the caucus will be awarded a portion of the delegates.

About 1.28 million Republicans in the state were eligible to vote on a damp, cool Saturday in the Bluegrass State from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time. The state party said 18 percent of registered voters cast a ballot, exceeding the 15.7 percent turnout in Kentucky’s 2012 GOP presidential primary.

The Republican Party of Kentucky issued a statement Saturday afternoon declaring the caucus a success, but only two-thirds of the vote had been reported to the public more than 6 hours after polls closed. No explanation for the slow vote count was provided in a news release issued by the party at 1 a.m. Sunday.

Trump and Cruz split the vote in the state’s most populous counties, with Trump claiming wins in Jefferson and Pulaski and Cruz taking Fayette, Kenton and Warren. In all, Trump won 78 of Kentucky’s 120 counties.

Leading up to the state caucus, some conservative elites in the state were working to stop Trump’s national momentum.

Several, including former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup of Louisville, state House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown, and state Senate Republican Leader Damon Thayer of Georgetown, publicly backed U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and spoke of stopping Trump. Rubio, however, trailed Trump and Cruz badly.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Louisville never said who would get his vote Saturday but the New York Times recently reported that McConnell told vulnerable U.S. senators up for election this year that they could run ads against Trump even if he wins the nomination.

FoxNews.com reported Saturday that a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Bowling Green said the senator will not say for whom he has cast a ballot and noted he has yet to endorse a candidate since dropping out after the Iowa GOP Caucus in early February. Warren County, where Paul lives, chose Cruz over Trump by a 6.53-point margin.

But Trump sent the following two tweets Saturday morning:

“Why would anyone in Kentucky listen to failed presidential candidate Rand Paul re: caucus. Made a fool of himself (1%.). KY his 2nd choice!”

The other read: “To the people of Kentucky, Rand Paul didn’t want you. Not (sic) he runs back due to his presidential failure. #VoteTrump #MakeAmericaGreatAgain”

Meanwhile, Saide Weiner, spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, said Kentucky’s GOP caucus is “a reminder to Kentucky voters just how hard Rand Paul tried to abandon them.”

In response, Kelsey Cooper, a spokeswoman for Paul’s re-election campaign to the Senate, said Saturday night that “serving Kentucky has always been Sen. Paul’s No. 1 priority, and Kentuckians are proud to have such a strong voice standing up for them and fighting against Obama’s anti-Kentucky agenda every single day.”

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin voted in Louisville but did not say whom he favored.

The Kentucky Republican Party decided to hold a caucus this year to allow Paul to run for president and re-election to the U.S. Senate. State law prohibits a candidate for running for two offices on the same ballot.

According to the Kentucky secretary of state’s office, Republicans and Democrats held presidential caucuses in 1984.

GOP leaders said they will review Saturday’s event before deciding whether to hold another caucus in 2020 or return to primary elections. The party must pay for caucuses. The state picks up the cost for primary elections.

Kentucky Republicans had to pick among 11 candidates on their caucus ballots — Trump, Marco Rubio, Cruz, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Paul, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee. There also was a place to vote for “uncommitted.”

All but Trump, Rubio, Cruz and Kasich have dropped out of the race. Each paid a $15,000 filing fee for the caucus.

Four other states Saturday held presidential preference elections.

The Republican National Convention to select the party’s nominee will be held July 18-21 in Cleveland. There will 2,472 delegates to the convention. A candidate will need a simple majority comprising 1,237 or more delegates to win the presidential nomination.

Kentucky Democrats will hold their presidential primary election on May 17. Republicans still will hold primary elections May 17 for local, state and congressional races.

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 10:50 PM with the headline "Donald Trump wins close battle for Kentucky."