TED CRUZ WINS UTAH BY A LANDSLIDE

By Caleb Howe | 2:35 AM on March 23, 2016

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Republican presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz waves as he arrives to speak at the 2016 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference at the Verizon Center, on Monday, March 21, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Ted Cruz has crushed the competition in Utah. NBC has called it at 2:25 a.m. Eastern, CNN shortly after, and the AP after that. The vote totals are not released but at last count Cruz was over 68%. I will update this post with the official results shortly but it certainly appears that Cruz has exceeded 50%. [update:] Cruz dominated with 69% of the vote.

Having exceeded 50% of the vote, all 40 of the state’s delegates will go to Cruz, majorly offsetting Trump’s decisive Arizona win, which was a winner-take-all race.

Tonight was key for the #NeverTrump people, and the folks who are in that group no doubt heaved a sigh of relief. They can relax for a day.

For the delegate count, a 50%+ will mean that Trump has widened his lead over Cruz, but only by 18 delegates. We’ll have the full breakdown of Tuesday’s voting, as well as the implications going forward, in our Morning Briefing. If you haven’t signed up … well, you know, do.