How the Mass. primaries shook out
By NBP Staff | March 2, 2016, 6:05 EST
It was a hard-fought battle for Hillary Clinton in Massachusetts, but the Democratic frontrunner eeked out a win over challenger Bernie Sanders, 50 percent to 49, as Republican Donald Trump cruised to victory, with 49 percent of the vote on the Republican side.
With 91 Democratic delegates at stake in Massachusetts, Clinton and Sanders are on track to split the spoils fairly evenly. Clinton will pick up at least 45; Sanders will gain 43. There are still about 3 percent of precincts yet to report. Clinton won in larger Massachusetts cities and towns, while Sanders fared better in rural areas in central and Western Massachusetts.
The total difference in votes between Clinton and Sanders was a mere 20,000.
On the Republican side, Marco Rubio and John Kasich tied for second, with 18 percent of the GOP vote. Ted Cruz clocked in at 10 percent and Ben Carson at 3. In the delegate count, Trump gained 22 of the Bay state’s 42 delegates, Kasich and Rubio each picked up eight, and Ted Cruz got four. According to Politico MA, Trump won all but 19 cities and towns in the Bay State — a figure that could drop to 18 with Chelsea reporting a potential polling error.
The results come after what seems to have been a significant political realignment in Massachusetts where nearly 20,000 Massachusetts voters unenrolled from the Democratic party since the first of the year, a period that saw only 5,911 Massachusetts Republicans unenroll from their party.
The Boston Globe provided a statewide map to see voting by district.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.