Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz could end up getting 10 more delegates from Louisiana than rival Donald Trump despite the businessman winning the state’s primary, according to a report.
Cruz and Trump both got 18 delegates from the March 5 primary, which Trump won by nearly 4 percentage points.
{mosads}But Cruz is likely to pick up the five delegates left behind when Marco Rubio ended his campaign, as well as the state’s five unbound delegates who can back a candidate of their choosing, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Trump has won 739 delegates so far, with 1,237 required to clinch the GOP nomination. Cruz has 465 delegates and John Kasich has 143. There are 944 delegates still up for grabs.
Cruz has very slim chances of clinching the nomination outright, but he is seeking to keep Trump from reaching 1,237 delegates, which would force a contested convention.
Cruz’s supporters have scooped up five of Louisiana’s six positions on the Republican convention’s rule-writing committees, the Journal reported.
If Trump doesn’t reach the delegate threshold to win the GOP nomination on the first ballot, Cruz-dominated committees could work to block Trump from winning enough delegates to claim the nomination on following ballots.