MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, April 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Ted Cruz rode Donald Trump’s recent stumbles to a landslide victory in the Wisconsin Republican primary last night.
Senator Cruz defeated Mr. Trump by 13 percentage points last night, a high margin in what had once seemed a competitive race.
“Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry,” Sen. Cruz told his supporters just before 9 p.m. local time.
Cruz won big among virtually every demographic.
Self-described “values voters” chose Cruz by a whopping 64 percent to Trump’s 11 percent. Twice as many chose Ohio Governor John Kasich than Trump.
The senator won “very conservative” voters by 34 percentage points.
And 53 percent of evangelicals supported Sen. Cruz to 36 percent for Trump. Although white evangelicals were thought to be the cement of the senator’s campaign, he often lost evangelicals – especially those who attend church least frequently – to the billionaire frontrunner.
In an e-mail sent last night, Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told LifeSiteNews that Mr. Trump’s “failure to articulate the pro-life, pro-woman position no doubt contributed significantly to his loss tonight.”
“Exit polling reveals that Wisconsin evangelicals fled Mr. Trump to support Senator Cruz,” Dannenfelser said. “Nationwide, Trump’s unforced errors on the abortion issue – as well as his continued disparaging comments about women like Heidi Cruz – will continue to hurt him.”
The Wisconsin contest was the first since Mr. Trump responded to a hypothetical question from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews by saying that, if abortion becomes illegal, women who procure abortions should face “some form of punishment.”
The ensuing national feeding frenzy did not lead to a significant gender gap in Wisconsin, with Trump and Cruz winning nearly identical shares of the vote from men and women.
Sen. Cruz won 36 of the state’s 42 delegates, with Mr. Trump taking six. However, Trump still enjoys a strong delegate lead – 743 to 517 for Cruz. Trump needs just over half of the remaining delegates, and the coming state primaries – in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania – are more friendly to his brand of politics than that of the Southern evangelical who blasted “New York values.”
Still, in his victory speech, Sen. Cruz projected an air of confidence. “I am more and more convinced that our campaign is going to win the 1,237 delegates necessary to win the Republican nomination,” he said, “either before Cleveland, or at the convention in Cleveland.”
Under the present rules if no winner is chosen on the first ballot, delegates are free to vote for candidates of their choice on subsequent ballots until one person wins the necessary number.
Sen. Cruz’s victory speech mentioned his hardcore dedication to social issues, while trying to appeal to all portions of the GOP.
In his administration, he said, Americans would see “Common Core ending.”
“Catholic schools and Jewish day schools, Brigham Young [University], and the Little Sisters of the Poor will see a Supreme Court that protects their religious liberty,” he said.
His head tilting from one teleprompter to another, Sen. Cruz pledged to end sanctuary cities, support the Second Amendment, destroy ISIS, and stand with “Israel clearly and unapologetically.”
He also mentioned Milton and Rose Friedman’s libertarian classic Free to Choose.
The breadth of the speech was intended to convey the way he hopes to coalesce the Republican Party around himself.
Five former candidates had endorsed him – Rick Perry, Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, and Scott Walker, who introduced him at the rally. “We’ve got the full spectrum of the Republican Party coming together and uniting behind this campaign,” Sen. Cruz said.
His backers cite polls showing the senator outperforming Mr. Trump against Hillary Clinton in the general election. Sen. Cruz said that Clinton had a “bad night” in the Democratic primary, which she lost to Sen. Bernie Sanders in an even bigger landslide, “an even worse night…in the Republican primary.”
He said he looked forward to “painting the Badger State bright Republican red” in November for the first time since 1984, when President Reagan won reelection by carrying 49 states.