It was Cruz's fifth win of the Republican primary season, easily fending off Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, both of whom made forays into the state. Ohio Gov. John Kasich trailed the field, and neurosurgeon Ben Carson dropped out of the race Friday.
"God bless Kansas,'' Cruz told supporters in Idaho, moments after the first Saturday race was called. "And the scream you hear--the howl you hear from Washington, D.C.--is utter terror for what we the people are doing together.
What we’re seeing is conservatives coming together.''
Cruz, vying to solidify his candidacy as the alternative to Trump, also noted that early returns also showed him leading in Maine.
"I am here today with a word of hope and encouragement. I believe this election will center on three issues: jobs, freedom and security.’’
Trump skipped a scheduled Saturday appearance at a conference of conservatives near Washington, D.C., to push his unsuccessful bid in Kansas, making personal appeals for support at his trademark raucous rallies.
"If I lose, I'm going to be so angry at you," Trump told a crowd in Wichita on Saturday.
The Saturday contests — wedged between Super Tuesday voting earlier in the week and consequential battles later this month in Michigan, Ohio and Florida — did not garner the same hot spotlight, though Kansas voters showed up in force at caucus sites throughout the state.
In Kentucky, meanwhile, turnout was expected to be low as the state traditionally has not voted this early and Saturday marked the first time a presidential nominee was selected by caucus since 1984.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who bowed out of the Republican race last month, pushed for the change to a caucus that also allowed him to pursue re-election to his Senate seat, a decision that Saturday won decidedly mixed reviews.
Gov. Matt Bevin said the move helped bring early attention to state, where Trump headlined a rowdy gathering in Louisville.
"Look at this – there are lines of people waiting to vote," said Bevin, who declined to say which candidate he voted for. "For everybody who thinks that having a caucus in Kentucky was not a good thing, have you ever seen this kind of enthusiasm for a primary in the state of Kentucky? You never have."
Yet some voters said the Republican party failed to adequately publicize the change, leading to widespread confusion.
“There are so many uninformed Republicans! The Republican Party of KY has done a poor job of informing its voters of this change!'' Kentucky teacher Jamie Michelle Amburgey wrote on the state GOP Facebook page.
In Louisiana, with 800,000 registered Republicans, the campaign has been shadowed by serious economic troubles as state officials are struggling to reconcile yawning budget deficits that threatened basic public services.
Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, once among a formerly crowded field of Republican candidates, dropped out of the race in November after gaining little support.
Going into Saturday's voting, Trump led with 329 delegates. Cruz had 231, Rubio 110 and Kasich 25. In all, 155 GOP delegates were at stake in Saturday's races.
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