Voters in RV Country bucked statewide trends in Tuesday’s presidential primaries in Indiana.
The state’s primary was touted as a decisive battleground for both Democrats and Republicans, and it didn’t disappoint.
Overall, the state picked billionaire candidate Donald Trump by an overwhelming margin for the Republican Party candidate, leading his nearest competitor, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, to suspend his campaign.
Elkhart County was among the few Hoosier counties to favor Cruz, and was more decisive than the rest of the state in tapping Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nominee.
Before the results, polls predicted Trump as the favorite among Hoosier voters, but the polls couldn’t foresee the commanding nature by which the billionaire won the state.
Overall, Trump received more than half of the state’s popular vote (53 percent), besting Cruz (36 percent) by more than 16 percentage points. In Marion County, home to the state’s capitol, Trump won by a 10-point margin.
Elkhart joined Fort Wayne-area counties of Whitley, Adams, Wells and Allen as the only counties to favor Cruz in the Republican side of the primary.
48 percent of Elkhart County voters tapped Cruz to be the Republican nominee. Trump followed with 43 percent of the vote, while 7 percent favored John Kasich.
Cruz’s largest margin of victory among counties was in Adams, where he garnered 56 percent of the vote, beating Trump by 20 points.
The Indiana win gave Trump a clear path to the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination prior to the Republican Convention, leading the Texas senator to suspend his campaign.
“We left it all on the field in Indiana. We gave it everything we’ve got but the voters chose another path,” Cruz told supporters Tuesday.
The state’s Democrats selected Bernie Sanders, who bested frontrunner Hillary Clinton by more than 5 percent.
Although Elkhart County voters also favored Sanders, they did so by a much larger margin. Sanders won the county by double-digit margins, receiving about 57 percent of the vote.
Clinton won many of the counties along the southern edge of the state, with much of the Hoosier geography going to Sanders.