WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on campaign 2016 on the day of the Nevada Republican caucuses (all times are Eastern Standard Time):
1:55 a.m.
Donald Trump will collect the most delegates from the Nevada caucuses. But even though he won by a large margin, he might not get a majority of the 30 delegates at stake.
Trump won at least 12 delegates and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz won at least five apiece. Eight delegates are still left to be allocated.
Nevada Republicans award delegates in proportion to the statewide vote, so a candidate can win a delegate with as little as 3.3 percent of the vote.
Overall, Trump has 79 delegates, Cruz has 16 and Rubio has 15. John Kasich has five delegates and Ben Carson has three.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.
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1:39 a.m.
Ted Cruz says he can’t wait to get home to Texas.
The Republican presidential candidate says in Nevada that next week’s Super Tuesday primaries, including the balloting in Texas, “will be the most important night of this campaign.”
Cruz spoke at a Tuesday night appearance at a Las Vegas-area YMCA after an underwhelming performance in Nevada’s caucuses.
With returns still coming in, Cruz and rival Marco Rubio were locked in a tight race for second place.
Cruz was heading to Texas shortly after the speech.
Supporter Glenn Beck introduced Cruz and said he’s “totally fine with him being in third place, because Super Tuesday is coming. Texas is coming.”
Cruz insisted that he’s the only Republican candidate who can beat Nevada caucus winner Donald Trump.
He says, “the undeniable reality that the first four states have shown is that the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump and the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump is this campaign.”
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1:18 a.m.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is basking in his Nevada caucus victory by vowing to keep the open the military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Trump tells supporters gathered at the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas that he’ll keep open the facility that President Obama is working to close. He says, “We’re going to load it up with a lot of bad dudes out there.”
Trump also drew loud cheers for his vow to build a wall along the southern border and his instance that Mexico will pay for it.
Trump offered shout-outs from the stage to several of his billionaire friends, including Phil Ruffin, who owns the Treasure Island, and casino developer Steve Wynn.
“Now we’re going to get greedy for the United States,” he says.
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12:53 a.m.
Donald Trump is celebrating his win in the Nevada Republican caucuses with a prediction that he’ll soon claim the GOP presidential nomination.
The billionaire businessman tells supporters in Las Vegas that, “it’s going to be an amazing two months.”
He goes on to say, “we might not even need the two months, folks, to be honest.”
Trump has won three contests in a row after finishing second in the leadoff Iowa caucuses. He’s in a strong position headed into next week’s Super Tuesday contests, where voters in a dozen states will cast ballots in presidential primaries.
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12:32 a.m.
Nevada caucus-goers who decided who to support before the last week were key to Donald Trump’s victory in the state, according to early results of the entrance poll conducted among people arriving at their caucus sites.
Among those who decided who to support in the last week, about 4 in 10 supported Marco Rubio. About a quarter supported Trump and about 2 in 10 supported Ted Cruz.
But a majority of those deciding before the last week supported Trump, and they accounted for about 7 in 10 caucus attendees.
The survey was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research as Republican voters arrived at 25 randomly selected caucus sites in Nevada. The preliminary results include interviews with 1,545 Republican caucus-goers and have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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12:29 a.m.
About 3 in 10 Nevada caucus attendees said the quality that mattered most to them in choosing a candidate is that he shares their values, according to preliminary results of the entrance poll.
That’s slightly more said they want a candidate who can win in November or who can bring change, each chosen by about a quarter of caucus attendees. About 2 in 10 want one who “tells it like it is.”
Caucus winner Donald Trump was supported by nearly 9 in 10 of those caring most about having a candidate who “tells it like it is” and about 6 in 10 who wanted a candidate who can bring change.
Rubio was the favorite among those who cared most about electability, and Cruz among those wanting someone who shares their values.