DETROIT — Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders earned a surprising victory over Hillary Clinton in the Michigan Democratic primary on Tuesday. Meanwhile, businessman Donald Trump won the Great Lakes state in the Republican primary.
The Vermont Senator edged the wife of former President Bill Clinton by a close margin of 49.9 percent to 48.2 percent of the vote. This is a major blow to the Clinton campaign as she expected to win the state. However, she still received 58 delegates while Sanders adds 65 delegates to his total.
Both Sanders and Clinton participated in the Flint, Mich. debate on CNN last Sunday. In it, Hillary called out Bernie for not voting to approve the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler back in 2008. Then, Sanders fired back and said his campaign is the only one without a Super PAC. Those are large groups of people who raise millions of dollars on behalf of a single candidate. Bernie said his campaign has raised funds from private citizens who donate $27 on his website.
Michigan and Ohio are very similar. Both states are heavy with automobile manufacturing plants. The city of Toledo was even a part of Michigan–up until the Toledo War of 1836. That being said, Ohio Gov. John Kasich was hoping to win the Mitten state.
Donald Trump took an early lead in Michigan’s Republican primary. Kasich was in second place, but he later fell to third place. Trump ended up with 36.5 percent of the vote, followed by Ted Cruz with 24.9 percent, Kasich with 24.3 percent and Marco Rubio with 9.3 percent. That being said, Trump will receive 25 delegates with Kasich and Cruz earning 17.
The top four Republican presidential candidates participated in a debate on the Fox News Channel on Thursday, March 3.
Here are the current delegate totals for the Democratic candidates:
- Hillary Clinton: 1,221 delegates (including 472 superdelegates)
- Bernie Sanders: 571 delegates (including 23 superdelegates)
Here are the current delegate totals for the Republican candidates:
- Donald Trump: 446 delegates
- Ted Cruz: 347 delegates
- Marco Rubio: 151 delegates
- John Kasich: 53 delegates
The Republican presidential candidates will move onto Wyoming and the District of Columbia on March 12. Then, five swing states will hold primaries on Tuesday, March 15: Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Florida and North Carolina.