Nevada Republican Caucus Results, Totals: Trump Wins Big

Updated at Wednesday, 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time:

Real estate developer Donald Trump thrashed his opponents in the Nevada Republican caucuses after heavy voting Tuesday, capturing about double the vote of his closest competitors, and he brashly predicted that he could have the party’s nomination locked up within two months.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz were in a pitched battle for second place in the fourth state to select delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Trump said that two months ago, his campaign wasn’t expected to win in Nevada or pretty much anywhere else.

“Soon, the country is going to start winning, winning, winning,” he said. “It’s going to be an amazing two months. We may not even need the full two months.”

He professed his love for Las Vegas and Nevada, for Hispanics and for “the poorly educated,” who, Trump said, are the most loyal of Americans.

Approximate results with all votes counted:

Donald Trump: 46%

Marco Rubio: 24%

Ted Cruz: 21%

Ben Carson: 5%

John Kasich: 4%

Far from offering a concession speech, Cruz addressed supporters by quickly congratulating Trump and then just as quickly pivoting to a stump speech on what makes him the superior candidate. Taking a shot at Rubio, Cruz pointed out that he was the only candidate to defeat Tump in any of the early voting states.

“The role of the first four primaries have been to narrow the field,” he said. “History teaches us that no one wins the nomination without winning one of the first three primaries.”

Rubio had already left Nevada for Michigan, which holds its presidential primary on March 8, when the results came in. In an interview with CBS News Wednesday, he said Republicans shouldn’t concede the nomination to Trump.

“It’s important to take a deep breath here,” Rubio said. “It’s not based on how many states you win — it’s based on how many delegates you picked up.”

He said winner-take-all states, including his home state of Florida, give him the chance to “more than catch up.” Rubio predicted that with Bush out of the race, “we’ll win in Florida.”

Dr. Ben Carson, who finished a distance fourth place but showed now signs of ending his effort, told a ballroom of his supporters that the results would lead the rest of the nation to reverse course, to a brighter future.

“We are getting to the point where ‘We the People’ want to hear real solutions,” he said. “I believe that people are starting to wake up and look for answers, rather than have a Colosseum mindset.”

“While professional politicians have long written off our efforts to return the government to the people, we remain undaunted,” he added. “We’ve barely finished the first inning, and there’s a lot of game left ... As more Americans have their say, they will see the true strength of our movement.”

Turnout was heavy at some precincts, and reports of an insufficient number of ballots and other problems filled Twitter feeds. Some early reports pointed to record turnout.

Republican National Committee said “chaos is contained” after reports of double voting and other irregularities, Mashable said.

“Obviously we take reports of double voting very seriously and we will be reviewing the ballots,” a GOP official said, adding that additional ballots were distributed “in a matter of minutes” after reports that some precincts ran short.

Trump was making the rounds of caucuses and was met by wild applause.

At another site, the caucuses seemed to be living up to a reputation for chaos.

Trump was expected to win handily in Nevada, as he did in New Hampshire and South Carolina. With establishment candidate Jeb Bush out of the race, the big question to come out of Nevada looked to be where the former Florida governor’s supporters would go — to Rubio, Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich who didn’t campaign in Nevada..

A recent NBC/SurveyMonkey poll suggests Rubio and Kasich are the second and third choices of Bush supporters, but “don’t know” was the most popular choice at 23 percent.

THE VOTES SO FAR

• 2016 Nevada Democratic Caucuses: Hillary Clinton Handily Defeats Bernie Sanders
• 2016 South Carolina GOP Primary Totals: Donald Trump Wins; Jeb Bush Drops Out
• NH Primary Recap: Outsiders Break In
• Iowa Caucus Results: Cruz Wins GOP, Trump Stumbles, Dems Draw

Republicans in Nevada use a simpler, more direct process than Democrats, where a card draw settled the race in some precincts. In the Nevada Republican Caucuses, voters mark a simple ballot to decide how the 30 delegates to the Republican Convention are proportionally allocated.

» Photos by Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons