Sanders and Cruz hope for big wins as Wisconsin votes today

(Image credit: Darren Hauck/Getty Images)

last updated 5 April 2016

Wisconsin voters go to the polls on Tuesday to cast ballots in the Republican and Democratic primaries, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are pushing for big wins. Both candidates lead in the polls, but Cruz has more to gain from a victory, since a sweep of the state's 42 delegates would make it much harder for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump to arrive at the Republican convention with the necessary 1,237 delegates to win the nomination outright. "If we do well here, it's over," Trump said at a campaign rally Monday. "If we don't win here, it's not over."

Even if Trump loses the state, though, he might mitigate his losses by winning two rural congressional districts and their six delegates, The New York Times notes. Because Democrats award delegates proportionally, a modest Sanders win would still put the nomination further out of reach; he needs 67 percent of the remaining delegates and unaligned superdelegates to catch up with Hillary Clinton. Still, a big Sanders win would highlight Clinton's weakness in the upper Midwest and add to Sanders' string of recent victories.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.