by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Super Tuesday has come and gone, and Minnesota’s caucuses made possible Sen. Marco Rubio’s first primary win and one of four Super Tuesday wins for Sen. Bernie Sanders in their bids for the presidency.
Rubio pulled a strong 36.29 percent of the vote as of early Wednesday morning, edging out fellow Republican contenders Sen. Ted Cruz, who had 29.07 percent; and Donald Trump with 21.37 percent. Dr. Ben Carson received 7.33 percent of the vote in Minnesota, while John Kasich received 5.76 percent. A total of 111,253 voters participated in the Republican caucus, as of results early Wednesday.
Sanders brought in 63.2 percent of the vote statewide, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking 36.05 percent. Martin O’Malley received .08 percent of the vote and Rocque “Rocky” De La Fuente earned .03 percent. A total of 108,658 voters participated in the Democratic caucus as of results early Wednesday.
Local results for primary elections are difficult to gauge, but at the county level 530 Republican voters and nearly 600 Democrats caucused in Benton County. In Senate District 13, which includes Sartell, St. Stephen, St. Joseph, portions of Sauk Rapids and other western Stearns County towns, Republicans reported 2,222 voters, while Democrats reported 2,014 voters.
