Governor Scott Walker, Senator Ted Cruz and wife Heidi celebrate in Milwaukee |AP photo
MILWAUKEE – Tuesday, Illinois' GOP neighbors just to the north heeded Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's advice and voted for Senator Ted Cruz over front-runner businessman Donald Trump and Ohio Governor John Kasich in the GOP presidential primary.
Wisconsin Democrats also chose Senator Bernie Sanders over front-runner Hillary Clinton.
With 48.3% of the GOP vote, Cruz won another 33 delegates over Trump's 35.1%, which won him only three delegates. Kasich, at 14.1%, won no additional delegates Tuesday.
Cruz thanked Governor Walker and the voters in Wisconsin for their support in an acceptance speech in Milwaukee, and said the win was a "turning point."
“It is a rallying cry,” the Texas senator said. “It is a call from the hard-working men and women from Wisconsin to the people of America. We have a choice. We have a real choice.”
Donald Trump's campaign sent out a bitter concession speech from New York, where the candidate was stationed to hear the results:
Donald J. Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again. Lyin' Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him. Not only was he propelled by the anti-Trump super PAC's spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating with his own Super PAC's (which is illegal) who totally control him. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet — he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond. Mr. Trump is the only candidate who can secure the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton, or whomever is the Democratic nominee, in order to Make America Great Again.
New York state will hold its presidential primary in two weeks.