Kasich, Cruz leave Illinois with some delegates
Donald Trump's Illinois victory Tuesday night didn't come with all the state's valuable convention delegates.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won more than a dozen of the state's 69 delegates between them, giving each a reason to declare small victories here.
Unlike Ohio and Florida, Illinois commits only 15 of its delegates to the state's winner. The rest are elected directly from congressional districts, with three picked from each.
Kasich grabbed two delegates each from the suburban 9th Congressional District and Chicago's 7th District, according to The Associated Press' unofficial results. State Rep. David Harris, an Arlington Heights Republican, is among them. Former Illinois Republican Party Chairman and Kasich backer Pat Brady of St. Charles is in line for a spot in the 6th District, too.
Other delegate races remain too close to call, including in the North suburban 10th Congressional District, where no one has yet been projected the winners.
Trump's delegates are the leaders there, but state Rep. Ed Sullivan of Mundelein, a Kasich delegate, is close behind.
Trump swept some of the suburbs' and Chicago's other districts, but Cruz appeared to pick up a handful of delegates downstate.
C. Steven Tucker, a Cruz delegate who publicly criticized his candidate, lost to three Trump delegates in the 8th Congressional District.
Even though Illinois' primary is now over, the supporters of both Cruz and Kasich were still making the pitch for their favorites, reflecting the excitement for many of a blistering week of campaigning here.
Harris said Kasich is well-positioned to do well in November because a Republican victor will need to win Ohio.
And Cruz's Illinois co-chairman, Chris Cleveland, said his candidate's runner-up status to Trump in the national delegate count means Republicans should focus on him as the alternative to Trump.
"The question is, why is John Kasich even in the race at this point?" he said.