Ted Cruz sweeps all of Wyoming's 14 delegates as he seeks to close gap with Donald Trump
Mr Cruz is trying to stop the New York tycoon from securing a majority of delegates ahead of the summer's convention
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Your support makes all the difference.Texas senator Ted Cruz has edged a little nearer to Republican frontrunner Donald Trump after he scooped all 14 of Wyoming’s delegates.
Mr Cruz was in Wyoming on Saturday as Republicans in the state gathered to select the 14 delegates they will send to the party’s summer convention to vote for a presidential candidate.
Party members, rather than ordinary voters, elected the delegates in a process that mirrored what happened in Colorado, which was at the centre of controversy last week after Mr Cruz out-operated Mr Trump. Mr Trump was so angry that he described the multi-tiered caucus system as “rigged.”
Mr Cruz spoke at the convention in Saturday, capping off a months-long effort to organise support in the state. Mr Trump had originally planned to send former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who remains popular among conservatives, as a surrogate, but she canceled at the last minute.
The Associated Press said Mr Cruz spoke about local issues in Wyoming, the largest coal-producing state. He discussed the Democratic “attack” on the fossil fuel, saying President Barack Obama has tried to put the coal industry out of business through government regulations targeting air pollution.
“America is the Saudi Arabia of coal, and we are going to develop our industry,” Mr Cruz said.
Mr Cruz is trying to stop Mr Trump from securing the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination before the party’s convention in Cleveland in July.
Many observers believe neither Mr Trump or Mr Cruz will manage to win a clean majority ahead of the event, opening the way for a so-called “contested convention”.
On Saturday, Mr Trump again denounced the way Colorado, North Dakota and Wyoming have selected their delegates. Speaking at a rally in Syracuse, New York, he said his supporters were getting angry.
“They're going nuts out there; they're angry,” Mr Trump said. “The bosses took away their vote, and I wasn’t going to send big teams of people three, four months ago, have them out there.”
He added: “You're going to have a rough July at that convention. It's totally corrupt politics.”
While Mr Trump has won 21 state nominating contests to Mr Cruz's 10, the billionaire leads the Texas senator by only 196 delegates (755-559). That means he must win nearly 60 per cent of those remaining before the convention.
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