Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz crushed his rivals in a North Carolina tea party caucus, calling the conservative support "instrumental" in his bid to win the White House in 2016.
The North Carolina Tea Party Constitutional Caucus posted the tally of its weekend voting that showed Cruz with a decisive 50.13 percent,
The Hill reports.
Other candidates, according to the posted results, received:
- Retired pediatric surgeon Ben Carson: 42.05 percent
- Donald Trump: 3.97 percent
- Former Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina: 0.77 percent
- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal: 0.26 percent
- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul: 2.31 percent
- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: 0.51 percent
- Abstain: 1.15 percent
The
Cruz campaign called the victory a signal that "conservatives will coalesce around the Texas senator, rather than split their vote among various candidates."
"North Carolina is an important state for the Republican primary, and our campaign will continue to build our team in the Tar Heel state to ensure our campaign is competitive," Cruz said in a statement posted by his campaign organization.
"The tea party will be instrumental in helping to organize and elect a strong constitutional conservative and I am honored to receive their support."
In
national polling averages, Cruz comes in fourth out of 15 candidates with 8 percent voter support.
But Trump is maintaining his No. 1 spot, with 23.8 support, followed by Carson, with 21.3 percent. Rubio is in third, with 10.3 percent, the averaging shows.
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