Marco Rubio wins Puerto Rico's Republican primary
Republican presidential candidate and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won Puerto Rico's GOP primary on Sunday, according to Associated Press reports.
The U.S. territory awards 23 delegates in the GOP primary race. If one candidate gets more than half of the votes, they will be given all of the delegates. If no contender clears the 50 percent threshold, the delegates will be awarded proportionally. Puerto Rico's three superdelegates have also committed to Rubio.
It is unclear how many delegates Rubio will take home. Earlier in the day, the Florida senator led with considerable margins.
Rubio rallied on the island a day ahead of the primary, just as four other states tallied up their Republican primary and caucus votes.
"We continue to play the delegate math in this campaign, because we understand that this is going to be a very different kind of primary, where the delegates are going to count," Rubio told reporters Saturday. "That's why I'm here tonight in Puerto Rico, that's why we're going to continue to campaign in Florida, but we're also going to go to other states. We want to continue to increase our delegate total."
Rubio ended that night with few delegates to his name: Ted Cruz and Donald Trump split the wins for Saturday's four contests, and in their victory speeches, his two rivals called for the Florida senator to drop out of the race.
While exit polling and demographic information is scarce for the U.S. territory, the AP reported earlier that a large portion of voters were actually Puerto Rican inmates, with about 6,500 of the island's 11,500 prisoners are registered to vote. Government officials reported that the 2016 primary race showed a strong turnout, though the inmates' votes -- cast on Friday -- won't be available until Wednesday.
Puerto Rico's former governor gave a glimpse of the results earlier in the day:
.@marcorubio won big today in Puerto Rico. All 23 delegates will be pledged to him at the GOP convention. On to Cleveland! #Marcomentum
— Luis Fortuño (@luisfortuno51) March 6, 2016
The victory in the U.S. territory brings Rubio's total wins to two: In addition to Puerto Rico, the Florida senator won Minnesota's caucus on Super Tuesday.