WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) — Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump may be leading the delegates race a month into primary season but competitors Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz won enough over the weekend to keep both races competitive.
Trump leads the Republican race with 384 total pledged delegates. Cruz, R-Texas, is second with 300 pledged delegates, followed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio‘s 151 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich‘s 37.
For Republicans, 1,237 delegates 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 including super delegates — politicians and party leaders who can back any candidate and can change their mind at any time — Clinton leads with 1,129 presumed delegates to Sanders’ 498.
The 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.
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 Cruzalso 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.
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.
