- Donald Trump wins in Arizona, dashing Ted Cruz’s hopes there
- Hillary Clinton also wins in Arizona, the biggest prize of the night on the Democratic side
- Bernie Sanders scoops up caucus victories in Idaho and Utah
- Ted Cruz has such a strong showing in the Utah GOP caucuses he won all 40 delegates at stake
- Long waits to vote were reported in all three states
Cruz wins all 40 delegates in Utah
Sen. Ted Cruz had such a big win in Utah that he captured all 40 delegates at stake, even as caucus results are still coming in.
Bernie Sanders wins Idaho’s Democratic caucuses
Bernie Sanders won Idaho’s Democratic caucuses, according to new projections.
The victory helps him end a streak of defeats to Hillary Clinton that had some wondering how long he would remain in the hunt for the Democratic nomination.
Ted Cruz wins Utah Republican caucuses
Ted Cruz won the Utah Republican caucuses, advancing his effort to block front-runner Donald Trump from securing a majority of presidential nominating delegates before the Republican convention in July.
The Texas senator’s victory in the heavily Mormon state came after 2012 GOP nominee and Utah resident Mitt Romney urged Republicans to back anyone but Trump as part of the GOP establishment’s fight to stop the New York billionaire from clinching the nomination.
Arizona races are called, but voters stay in line
Bernie Sanders wins Utah’s Democratic caucuses over Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders won Utah’s Democratic caucuses, according to new projections.
The victory helps him end a streak of defeats to Hillary Clinton even as she builds a large lead in the number of delegates needed to secure the party’s presidential nomination.
Hillary Clinton blasts Republicans on national security
With the attack in Brussels refocusing the presidential campaign on the issue of terrorism, Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Republicans would make the country less safe.
“In the face of terror, America doesn’t panic,” she said in a high school gym in Seattle. “We don’t build walls or turn our backs on our allies.”
Clinton sharply criticized the leading GOP candidates for their national security proposals, which involve barring Muslims from the country, scrutinizing Muslim neighborhoods or scaling back America’s involvement in international alliances.
“What Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and others are suggesting is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. It will not keep us safe,” she said. “This is a time for America to lead, not cower. We will lead, and we will defeat terrorism.”
Clinton won Arizona’s primary on Tuesday, pushing her closer toward winning the Democratic nomination.
“It was exciting to see that result come in,” she said.
Bernie Sanders supporters on Brussels: Give peace a chance
Arizona loss does little to shake up Sanders’ script
Bernie Sanders hewed closely to his campaign script Tuesday, straying little from his stump speech at a San Diego rally to acknowledge the night’s primary contests.
The Vermont senator started his speech with a familiar riff on the durability of his upstart campaign.
“When we began this campaign, we were considered a fringe candidacy,” he said.
“Well, 10 months later, we have now won 10 primaries and caucuses,” he added, “and unless i’m very mistaken, we’re going to win a couple more tonight.”
His rival, Hillary Clinton, notched a victory in Arizona earlier in the evening. Sanders spoke before the results of the Democratic caucuses in Utah and Idaho were determined.
The Arizona loss was a significant setback for Sanders, who campaigned heavily in the state. Instead of mentioning the result directly, he emphasized the large crowds at Tuesday’s polling places.
“When we began this campaign, we talked about the need for millions of people to get involved in the political process,” he said. “Tonight in Utah, tonight in Idaho and tonight in Arizona, there are record-breaking turnouts in terms of voters.”
Sanders kept to his familiar campaign themes: calling for a more equitable economy and an overhaul of the campaign finance system.
On the latter point, Sanders took a few swings at Clinton, showing no inclination to lay off the Democratic front-runner even as she builds her delegate lead.
“What we showed is you can run a national campaign without begging billionaires for their money,” Sanders said.
“Secretary Clinton has chosen to go a different route,” he added, dinging her for being the beneficiary of Wall Street donations.
Sanders spoke before a crowd of thousands at the San Diego Convention Center, where supporters lined up hours before the senator was scheduled to speak.
Marco Rubio getting votes in Arizona
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was receiving almost one-fifth of the vote in Arizona, likely thanks to early voting that started Feb. 24.
Donald Trump won the state and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz finished in second place.
Rubio exited the presidential race on March 15 after losing his home state of Florida to Trump. In recent days, Cruz has worked feverishly to corral the Florida senator’s supporters.
Here in California, where the state’s June 7 primary is becoming more important as the race continues on into the spring, Rubio and former candidates Jeb Bush, Ben Carson and Chris Christie will still appear on the ballot.
The scene outside the Sanders rally
Our colleagues at the San Diego Union-Tribune have been covering Sen. Bernie Sanders’ event at the convention center.
There is a colorful cast of characters, including someone who sells “Feel the Burn Kimchi” and donates some proceeds to the campaign.
Donald Trump wins Arizona’s Republican primary
Donald Trump won Arizona’s Republican presidential primary, extending his lead over rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich in the race for the Republican nomination.
Arizona’s winner-take-all contest gave the New York billionaire 58 delegates, the biggest prize on the party’s election calendar until his home-state primary April 19.
Hillary Clinton wins Arizona Democratic primary
Hillary Clinton won Arizona’s Democratic primary, according to new projections, giving her a victory in the state that had the most delegates up for grabs in Tuesday’s voting.
Her win is a blow to rival Bernie Sanders, who campaigned heavily in the state in hopes of breaking his recent streak of losses to Clinton.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz tussle on Twitter over wives
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz aren’t just competing at the ballot box Tuesday. They’re also duking it out on Twitter -- in notably personal terms.
Trump launched the first salvo Tuesday evening, prompted by an attack ad featuring a racy photo of his wife, Melania, that was circulated in Utah. (He actually tweeted the message once, then deleted it and reposted to add his signature “Lyin’ Ted” jab).
In fact, the Facebook ad was produced by an anti-Trump super PAC, not the Cruz campaign. Cruz responded that he was not behind the ad and made clear he was not thrilled with Trump’s vague threat to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife, Heidi.
Meanwhile, the strategist behind the Melania ad, which was aimed at Mormon voters who may not look kindly on the salacious pictures, chimed in to claim credit.
Donald Trump attacks Hillary Clinton for opposing torture
Donald Trump criticized Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night for saying the United States should not torture terrorism suspects.
“Incompetent Hillary doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Trump told Fox News just as the Arizona presidential primary vote count was starting. “She doesn’t have a clue.”
Trump said Belgian authorities should have put Salah Abdeslam, the top suspect in the November terrorist attacks in Paris, “through the wringer” when they captured him last week. At least 30 people were killed Tuesday in twin bombings in Brussels.
“If they would have put him through the grill 10 minutes after they captured him, he probably would have ratted them out and maybe stopped this horrible terror attack that took place today,” Trump said.
Clinton, who plans to make a speech on counter-terrorism Wednesday at Stanford University, has argued that torture does not make America safer from terrorism.
Scenes from Idaho
Reporters in Idaho are sharing photos of long lines at caucus sites.
Trying to vote tonight? You might still be waiting
Western voters appear to have turned out in droves this Tuesday. There are reports of long lines at polling places in Arizona, Utah and Idaho.
In Arizona, where both Democrats and Republicans are casting primary votes, people have waited in line for as long as two hours.
The long waits were due in part to fewer polling places open in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located.
There are also reports of heavy turnout in Utah, where both parties are holding caucuses.
And in Idaho, CNN reported a “mile-long” line to enter one Democratic caucus site.
Utah Republicans cast ballots with a click
With the click of a button -- from a cellphone or a tablet -- Utah Republicans had the option of online voting in Tuesday’s caucuses in what could be the largest such effort to date in the U.S.
Roughly 59,000 Utah Republicans registered ahead of a March 15 deadline to cast a ballot online rather than attend their local caucus sites, according the state party. The total is about 10% of registered Republicans in the state.
Utah’s GOP-dominated Legislature decides every four years whether to pay for a state-run presidential nominating contest or leave it to the state parties. This cycle it opted for the latter and the state GOP chose to make online voting an option. The party hired Smartmatic Group, an electronic voting firm based in London, to oversee the process.
Critics have raised concerns over security and accuracy.
Yet on Tuesday, Utah’s GOP reported minimal glitches.
The largest online voting effort came in 2004, when about 46,000 Michigan Democrats voted online in the state’s primary.
Bernie Sanders in San Diego for election night speech
Arizona is the biggest prize for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in Tuesday’s primaries
Facing an increasingly narrow path to the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders aimed to halt, or at least slow, his candidacy’s slide on Tuesday.
Democrats in Arizona, Idaho and Utah were making their choices as Hillary Clinton attempted to tighten her grip on the race.
The day’s biggest prize was Arizona, with more delegates up for grabs than the other two states combined.
Sanders campaigned heavily there, pressing forward with his message about income inequality and urging voters to take a gamble on his more ambitious liberal agenda. He spent $1.3 million on advertising there, more than double Clinton’s spending, according to data from SMG Delta.
As GOP race heads west, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz continue to battle for votes
The Republican presidential race headed west on Tuesday, with two contests determining whether Donald Trump can continue to overcome the forces aimed at stopping the bombastic front-runner from clinching the GOP nomination.
After weeks of high-stakes, cross-country balloting, the day’s offerings were comparatively modest.
Arizona and Utah were the only states voting, awarding a mere 98 delegates of the 1,237 needed to win the nomination ahead of the party’s summer convention.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was considered the likely winner in Utah, and he hoped a strong enough victory over Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich could hand him all 40 of the state’s delegates.
Voter voices: Arizona native, part-time California resident on Trump: ‘We need a businessman to run the country’
The polls in Arizona are closing soon in a winner-take-all election that could have big implications for Donald Trump’s campaign for president.
We recently caught up with an Arizona voter who lives part time in Palmdale, working at an aerospace company.
Chris Hensley, 56, said securing the U.S. border and foreign trade policies were his most important issues this campaign season.
“We give all these other countries wads of cash and they just spit in our face,” Hensley said last week outside the Santa Clarita swap meet at Saugus Speedway.
Hensley, an Arizona resident who lives and works part time at the California aerospace company, says he believes Trump is the right candidate to get the U.S. back on track on both issues. He said he plans to vote for Trump in Arizona.
“I think we need a businessman to run the country. What we do in this country – how we make deals with everybody around us – that’s the same thing a business does,” he said.
Though Hensley says he’s heard about incidents at Trump’s rallies recently, he’s convinced that they were staged.
“All these candidates, they pay protesters to go to all of these rallies to get everything worked up,” he said. “You take it with a grain of salt. Like, how far is this guy going to go for the $1,000 you paid him to go heckle someone?”
Hillary Clinton to discuss terrorism in California speech
Ted Cruz likens patrolling Muslim neighborhoods to those with ‘gang activity’
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, under fire from groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, stood by his comments Tuesday calling for increased patrols of Muslim neighborhoods after the bombings in Brussels.
“If you have a neighborhood that has a high level of gang activity, the way to prevent it is you increase the law enforcement presence there and you target the gang members to get them off the street,” Cruz said Tuesday on CNN.
Cruz, who is one of three men still seeking the GOP presidential nomination, added that he’s “talking any area where there is a higher incidents of radical Islamic terrorism.”
When pressed to name a particular neighborhood in the U.S., Cruz demurred.
Earlier in the day, he released a statement that called for empowering “law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”
The Anti-Defamation League assailed the statement as “misguided” and “counterproductive.”
Moreover, Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Cruz’s comments fell short for “anyone seeking our nation’s highest office and indicates that he lacks the temperament necessary” to become president.
Cruz’s chief rival for the GOP nomination, Donald Trump, has repeatedly been lambasted by CAIR since he called in December for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. Trump has called for increased border patrols in the wake of the Brussels attacks, which left more than 30 dead and hundreds wounded.
On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich offered more measured comments in Minneapolis.
“We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with radical Islam,” he told reporters. “Just because you happen to be a Muslim doesn’t mean that you’re a radicalized person who wants to destroy someone in the West.”
A costumed welcome for Hillary Clinton
The Democratic front-runner has three campaign stops scheduled in Washington.
Sounds like Bernie Sanders is expecting a close vote
Paul Ryan to speak on the ‘state of American politics’
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), the man who would preside over a contested Republican convention and whom some in the party wouldn’t mind seeing as a dark-horse presidential nominee, will deliver a speech on the state of American politics, his office announced Tuesday.
The address would come a day after front-runner Donald Trump could add to his delegate total in contests in Arizona and Utah on Tuesday.
Ryan has walked a fine line concerning Trump in recent weeks, making critical comments about the coarse dialogue in the race but rarely confronting Trump specifically. He batted away several questions about Trump at a news conference Tuesday morning.
The two have spoken by phone. Trump said after Super Tuesday that he doesn’t know Ryan well but was sure they’d get along. If not, though, “he’s going to have to pay a big price, OK?” the billionaire notably warned.
The speech by Ryan, the party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, comes three weeks after his former running mate, Mitt Romney, delivered an address excoriating Trump that helped solidify the anti-Trump movement among Republican elite.
In Havana, Obama puts U.S. campaign in perspective
President Obama found some value in the turbulent nature of the U.S. presidential campaign as he appealed to Cubans to embrace democratic reforms Tuesday in Havana.
No, it “isn’t always pretty,” Obama said of the U.S. electoral process, addressing Cubans on the third and final day of his historic visit. But he stepped back from the daily chaos of the presidential campaign to illustrate some of the history taking place and how far the U.S. has come since the last time it engaged with Cuba.
“You had two Cuban Americans in the Republican Party running against the legacy of a black man who was president, while arguing that they’re the best person to beat the Democratic nominee, who will either be a woman or a Democratic socialist,” he said. “Who would have believed that in 1959? That is a measure of our progress as a democracy.”
He also reminded Cubans about his own historic election, noting that when his father moved to America from Kenya, it was illegal for interracial couples to marry, and schools were still segregated.
“Because of those protests and because of those debates and because of popular mobilization, I’m able to stand here today as an African American and as president of the United States,” he said. “That was because of the freedoms that were afforded in the United States, that we were able to bring about change.”
Ted Cruz slams Donald Trump’s foreign policy views after Brussels attacks
Sen. Ted Cruz split open the GOP’s foreign policy divide Tuesday, saying the bombings in Brussels expose the limits of Donald Trump’s preference for a smaller U.S. footprint abroad.
“This is a war with radical Islamic terrorism,” Cruz told reporters in Washington.
“Donald Trump is wrong that America should withdraw from the world. Donald Trump is wrong that America should retreat from Europe, retreat from NATO,” Cruz said.
Cruz’s attack on Trump comes as the front-runner in the presidential primary explained his preference for a noninterventionist foreign policy in talks Monday with the Washington Post editorial board, a sharp break with Republican Party orthodoxy for a more muscular and involved role for the U.S.
Cruz said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should join the U.S. in “utterly destroying ISIS,” referring to Islamic State.
But the Texas senator stopped short of Trump’s call for a ban on Muslim immigrants. Instead, he said, immigrants from Syria and other countries need to be better vetted.
Following the attacks in San Bernardino in December, Congress approved changes to clamp down on visa-free travel from Europe if visitors had previously been to Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan.
Cruz also slammed President Obama for “spending his time going to baseball games with the Castros” in Cuba during the crisis in Europe.
Obama, on a historic visit to Cuba, delivered remarks Tuesday from the island country. He had long planned to attend an exhibition later Tuesday between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team.
Hillary Clinton: Americans need to ‘stand in solidarity’ with Europeans
Hillary Clinton called shutting down U.S. borders “unrealistic” in light of the Brussels bombings on Tuesday.
Speaking to NBC, the Democratic front-runner sympathized with fears over the violence in Belgium, and called on the government to intensify efforts to protect the U.S. But she said Americans need to “stand in solidarity” with Europe.
“We’ve got to be absolutely smart and strong and steady in how we respond,” the former secretary of State said on NBC’s “Today.”
Donald Trump made the rounds among the Washington establishment. Here’s what happened.
Donald Trump’s one-of-a-kind campaign for the White House briefly nodded toward the traditional on Monday, as he came to the capital for a day of friendly dealings with the Washington establishment that he has generally fought and scorned.
Trump met with a number of his backers in Congress at a law office on Capitol Hill, including Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, an immigration hard-liner, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Jim DeMint, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
And ahead of a speech to a leading advocacy group for Israel, he named several foreign policy advisors for the first time, including a former Army officer and a consultant on international oil and gas businesses. The list also included his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a real estate investor who Trump says helped him draft his address after speaking to “many of his friends in Israel.”
But as is usually the case with Trump, the day included several unorthodox moments.
Donald Trump: Brussels police have ‘very little control’
Hours after two bombs detonated in Brussels on Tuesday, killing at least 28, Donald Trump pounced, arguing that the massacre is exactly why he argues for stronger border security.
“They’re just a city that used to be one of the finest and one of the most beautiful and one of the safest cities in the world, and now it’s a catastrophic, very dangerous city where the police have very little control,” Trump said on NBC’s “Today.”
Belgian officials reported at least 28 killed so far after two bombs — at least one from a suicide bomber — exploded inside the airport around 8 a.m. in the city. Another bomb detonated an hour later by a subway station.
Trump also reiterated his support of waterboarding as an interrogation tactic and demanded that government leaders tighten rules on accepting refugees from Syria and elsewhere. And he insisted he leads in polls because of his stance on border control.
“Today” said it also reached out to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton for a comment on Brussels, but she declined.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich said in a statement that he’s “sickened by the pictures of the carnage, by the injuries and by the loss of life.”
Donald Trump hasn’t switched to a general-election game yet, and that’s risky
By now, most candidates in Donald Trump’s position would have begun looking ahead to November, modulating their tone and emphasizing positions that could broaden their appeal ahead of the general election.
Trump, of course, is no ordinary politician.
That has been perhaps his greatest strength as he moves closer to nabbing the Republican presidential nomination. Now, though, it may become a problem.
Over and over, despite the concerns expressed by Republican leaders, Trump has offered scant accommodation to anyone put off by his shock-jock-radio style, which thrills supporters but offends many others.
That take-or-leave-it approach was on display again as he campaigned ahead of Tuesday’s Republican contests in Arizona and Utah.
Five things to watch as Arizona and Utah voters head to the polls
It’s not exactly Tiny Tuesday. But after weeks of high-stakes, cross-country balloting, today’s presidential contests make for a fairly modest go-round.
Only a few states will be voting. Arizona holds its primary and Utah its precinct-level caucuses. Democrats in Idaho will also caucus.
A mere 149 delegates will be up for grabs on the Democratic side, a fraction of the 2,383 needed to win the party’s nomination. On the Republican side, 98 delegates will be awarded; it takes 1,237 to clinch the nomination ahead of the summer convention.
Despite the relatively meager pickings, Tuesday’s balloting is not without import.
Here are five things to watch.