Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz won the primary in Texas on Tuesday, staving off what could have been an embarrassing defeat to business mogul Donald Trump in his home state.
The win may keep his campaign going, but the margin was close enough that it did little to stop Trump's momentum, especially given his wins in a number of other Super Tuesday primary states.
Cruz had set the bar high for himself in Texas and elsewhere in the South, insisting he had a strong chance of victory with evangelical voters. But his campaign seemed to recognize Texas might be slipping away, and scheduled him to appear only in the state on Monday rather than traveling to others holding primaries and caucuses on Tuesday.
Texas has 155 delegates, who are divided proportionately unless a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote. Most delegates are divided between the state's 36 congressional districts, which get three delegates each: two for the winner and one for the runner-up if they clear 20 percent support. The remaining 47 delegates are allocated based on the outcome statewide.
Cruz's ties in Texas are significantly stronger than Trump's. Cruz was born in Canada but raised in Texas, and currently lives in Houston when he's not in Washington. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped his own presidential bid in September, endorsed Cruz, as did several Texan members of Congress.
Cruz also won an endorsement from sitting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who led a lawsuit against the Obama administration over deportation relief that would have benefitted millions of undocumented immigrants had it gone into effect. He and Cruz have also worked together on efforts to keep Syrian refugees out of the state.
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