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Ted Cruz won all of the 14 delegates up for grabs at Wyoming's state convention Saturday
A group of Wyoming GOP leaders backed a slate of unpledged delegates meant to give the state more leverage
(CNN) —
It’s a Ted Cruz sweep in Wyoming.
Cruz won 14 of 14 Republican National Convention delegates up for grabs at the Wyoming state convention here Saturday.
The crowd here was clearly in Cruz’s corner, as the Texas senator was the only candidate to make the trip to Casper – ahead of a major snowstorm – and Sarah Palin, scheduled to speak for Trump, previously canceled.
“If you don’t want to see Donald Trump as the nominee, if you don’t want to hand the general (election) to Hillary Clinton, which is what a Trump nomination does, then I ask you to please support the men and women on this slate,” Cruz said, holding up a piece of paper of 14 recommended delegates.
Twelve members of that slate won. They are bound to the senator on the first ballot and have also made a non-binding pledge to stick with him as long as things go in Cleveland.
For Cruz, Saturday is another victory that demonstrates how his campaign has organized party insiders and activists to make it difficult for Trump to capture the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination.
Trump spent the day in New York, and twice Saturday – before the vote – decried the convention process used here and last week in Colorado as being unfair. “The system is rigged,” Trump said at a rally in Syracuse.
Wyoming’s delegate process favors the organized. Twelve delegates were already awarded at county meetings last month – and nine of them are to Cruz backers, with one for Trump, one for Marco Rubio (who told CNN she would vote for Cruz on a second ballot) and one uncommitted. An additional three delegates are party officials, and one, RNC Committeewoman Marti Halverson, told CNN she will back Cruz.
With Saturday’s sweep, Cruz can count on at least 24 of the 29 delegates from the state.
Cruz’s top opponent in Wyoming may not have been Trump at all, but a group of Republicans seeking to send a slate of unpledged delegates to Cleveland. Their hope is to earn the state more influence on the national stage as the three remaining presidential candidates scramble for delegates. Many of those won election as alternates to Ohio.
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Actor Scott Baio told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro that he's joined the Trump train because he likes Donald Trump's message and toughness. "It's very simple, because when he speaks I understand him," Baio explained. "He speaks like I speak. He communicates with people very well."
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Phil Robertson, best known for his role on the A&E reality television show "Duck Dynasty," has endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination.
"Ted Cruz is my man," he said.
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Comedian Tommy Chong loves Bernie Sanders and has endorsed the Vermont senator for president.
"Bernie's like a kush, like the best kind of weed you can get, because he's the answer to all our problems," Chong told CNN.
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Around 200 people crowded into a New Hampshire restaurant in January to see retired soccer star Abby Wambach (arms outstretched) and actress Lena Dunham (wearing the hat). Both endorsed Hillary Clinton.
"I'm embarrassed to say this, but it took me far too long to start voting," Dunham told the crowd. "I had been of legal age for more than four years before I cast my first vote in the 2008 presidential election. It's not that I didn't care, but I didn't believe that me caring mattered. It was impossible for me to comprehend that one young woman checking a box after waiting in a long line could matter on a national level."
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Clinton turned to a new celebrity surrogate -- singer Demi Lovato -- in an effort to win over young women in Iowa, a state where Sanders' strength depends largely on his ability to turn out the youth vote.
In January, Clinton and Lovato drew a crowd of largely young women to the University of Iowa campus, where Lovato vouched for Clinton. After performing her hit song "Confident," Lovato said: "I don't think there's a woman more confident than Hillary Clinton."
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UFC champion Ronda Rousey endorsed Sanders for president.
"I'm voting for Bernie Sanders, because he doesn't take any corporate money," Rousey told Maxim magazine. "I don't think politicians should be allowed to take money for their campaigns from outside interests."
Photos: Who have celebrities endorsed for the 2016 election?
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Actress Eva Longoria has been an outspoken Clinton supporter since Clinton's 2008 campaign.
She told TMZ in 2013 that if Clinton ran for President, she'd "absolutely" support her.
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Katy Perry, wearing Clinton's famous H logo on her white dress, rallies Clinton supporters outside a dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, in October.
Perry has been outspoken on social media about her support for Clinton.
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"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane is a Sanders supporter. He introduced the Vermont senator at a rally in October, telling the crowd, "He's the only candidate on either side who truly seems to grasp the magnitude of the catastrophe (of climate change)."
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Basketball superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post slamming GOP candidate Donald Trump and praising Sanders for how they've handled their campaigns.
He wrote that Sanders is "a mature, thoughtful and intelligent man."
