WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) — After disappointing losses to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Super Tuesday, presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders recently won surprising victories on Super Saturday, earning enough delegates to keep both races competitive.
On Super Tuesday, Trump and Clinton — the Republican and Democratic presidential front-runners — both won seven out of 11 states. Cruz won three states and Sanders won four.
Cruz is second to Trump in the GOP nomination race. Sanders continues to narrow the gap with Clinton.
On Super Saturday, Trump won two states — Kentucky and Louisiana — while Cruz also won two states — Kansas and Maine. Sanders won Kansas and Nebraska, while Clinton won Louisiana.
On Sunday, Marco Rubio decisively won in Puerto Rico while Sanders easily won in Maine.
After a week of primaries and caucuses, Trump and Clinton continue to lead in delegate counts, but Cruz and Sanders are still in running.
Trump now leads the Republican race with 384 pledged delegates. Cruz is second with 300 pledged delegates, followed by Rubio’s 151 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 37.
For Republicans, 1,237 are needed out of an available 1,899 to win the party’s nomination. The GOP will officially back its nominee at the Republican National Convention scheduled to begin July 28.
Clinton currently leads over Sanders with 671 pledged Democratic delegates over Sanders’ 476. When counting superdelegates, who can back any candidate, Clinton leads with 1,129 presumed delegates to Sanders’ 498.
The use and media coverage of superdelegates has been increasingly criticized by the Sanders campaign and its supporters for allegedly making Clinton seem like the runaway winner and for painting the Sanders camp as a doomed effort.
For Democrats, the delegate results are not official until the Democratic National Convention, which is scheduled to begin July 25. The formality is due to the use of superdelegates, who can support any delegate whereas pledged delegates support the winner of a state’s primary. A Democrat needs a total of 2,383 delegates out of an available 3,393 to win the party’s nomination.
The month of March could decide the fate of campaigns as there are a significant number of delegates in states with upcoming contests.
For Republicans, 12 more states will hold a primary or caucus on four different dates through March 22. There are 625 remaining Republican delegates up for grabs in those elections.
For Democrats, 13 more states will hold a primary or caucus through March 26. There are 1,130 remaining Democratic delegates in those contests.
