Ted Cruz has won the Republican primary in Wisconsin, putting a serious dent into rival Donald Trump’s chances of winning the party’s nomination before the convention this summer.
This is the cherry on top of a very bad week for Cruz, who has been on the defensive about abortion and has been getting generally terrible press. Though Trump still has a fairly significant lead in delegates, not taking Wisconsin makes the electoral math much more challenging for the New York businessman.
For Cruz, the map going forward looks challenging as well. There are a number of Northeastern states voting in the next several weeks, a region that should be favorable to Trump. The next major state to vote is New York, Trump’s home turf.
Though Cruz says he wants to win the nomination during the primary voting process, the conventional wisdom says that his only chance of winning is to go to the convention with the nomination undecided. Cruz has been working to secure the support of delegates in case the nomination vote goes to a second ballot.