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Ted Cruz Wins Okahoma

by Emily Shire

On Tuesday night, the Associated Press declared that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won Oklahoma on Super Tuesday. Cruz can claim Oklahoma as a Super Tuesday victory, in addition to his home state of Texas. Although GOP frontrunner claimed the lion's share of the Southern states up for grabs on Super Tuesday, the fact that Cruz managed to win more than just Texas (and even that was no sure thing) has surprised many. That the Republican establishment rallied around Marco Rubio and made a hard push for the Florida senator appeared to do little for his presidential prospects. At the time of writing, Rubio is yet to win a state in this entire election cycle.

While Cruz's wins Oklahoma and Texas will still leave him trailing the Donald by a lot — he's already picked up Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia — they certainly provide a boost for his campaign. FiveThirtyEight's David Wasserman wrote that Cruz's victory in Oklahoma could keep his campaign chugging along: "Thanks to the Sooner vote, Cruz has extra justification to stay in the race a lot longer."

Oklahoma wasn't just a good Super Tuesday state for Republican underdogs. The Associated Press declared Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont also snagged Oklahoma from the Democratic favorite (especially in the South), Hillary Clinton.