Sanders Wins, Trump and Cruz Split on Super Saturday

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders came out ahead for the Democrats, and real estate mogul Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won on what had been dubbed "Super Saturday." Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won one Democratic contest. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. did not finish higher than third place in any of the day's Republican contests.

Sanders won two contests: the Democratic caucuses in Kansas and Nebraska. He finished with 67.7 percent of the vote in Kansas, and he received more than twice as many votes as Clinton (26,450 to 12,593), despite Clinton being ahead in a February poll in the state. With all precincts reporting, the former secretary of state won 32.3 percent of the vote. As of July 1, 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 86.8 percent of Kansas' population was white, which was a demographic Sanders has done well with throughout the cycle. It was also a caucus setting, not a primary, a contest type the self-proclaimed democratic socialist should do well in because of his enthusiastic base of supporters.

SEE ALSO: Real American Problems Likely to be Focus of Flint Debate

In Nebraska, with 98.7 percent of precincts reporting, Sanders received 57.1 percent of the vote to Clinton's 44.1 percent of the vote. The vote count was 18,940 to 14,234. Nebraska is also majority white — 89.4 percent as of 2014, according to the Census Bureau.

Clinton won the Louisiana primary. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton won 71.1 percent of the vote to Sanders' 23.2 percent. She was 39 points ahead of the senator in the RealClear Politics polling average. This continues the former chief diplomat's Southern domination, which is due in large part to her support from the African American community.

Trump won the Kentucky caucuses with 35.9 percent of the vote, beating Cruz who received 31.6 percent of the vote. One-hundred percent of precincts are reporting. The businessman received just less than 10,000 votes more than Cruz — 82,493 to 72,503. The Republicans do not have superdelegates. Trump won 17 delegates; Cruz won 15.

The real estate mogul also won the Louisiana primary. With all precincts reporting, Trump has 41.4 percent of the vote and 124,818 votes to Cruz's 37.8 percent and 113,949 votes. The political outsider took 15 Louisiana delegates to the senator's 14.

SEE ALSO: Mini Arguments Dominate Eleventh Republican Debate

Cruz won the Maine caucuses. With all precincts reporting, the senator won 45.9 percent of the vote to Trump's 32.6 percent. The winner received 8,550 votes while the second-place finisher received 6,070 votes. Cruz won 12 delegates to Trump's nine.

The senator also won the Kansas caucuses. All precincts are reporting, and Cruz received 48.2 percent of the vote to Trump's 23.3 percent. The vote count was 35,207 to 17,062, and the delegate count was 24 for Cruz and nine for Trump.

Even though they split the day, Cruz won more delegates than Trump — 64 to 49. Trump, however, won the two biggest states in terms of delegates, Kentucky and Louisiana. The real estate mogul's victories also continue to show that he is defeating Cruz in the South, which is a region the Evangelical senator should have been victorious in.

Rubio and Kasich did win delegates, but they are still far behind. The total delegate count is 385 for Trump, 298 for Cruz, 123 for Rubio and 34 for Kasich. On the Democratic side, the count now stands at 1,131 for Clinton and 479 for Sanders. Superdelegates are the reason for the large disparity between the competing Democrats.

During his end of the evening speech, Trump called on Rubio to withdraw from the race. He said, "I want Ted one-on-one." A Rubio spokeswoman told CNN that he is staying in the race.

Reach News Editor Max Schwartz here; follow him on Twitter here.

Annenberg Media