Ted Cruz Wins Big Delegate Numbers In Wisconsin

Second place came out on top in Wisconsin on Tuesday after Ted Cruz handily won the Badger State's primary race. The win gave Cruz the majority of Wisconsin's delegates and increased the likelihood of a contested Republican convention in July, which holds the chance of robbing frontrunner Donald Trump of the nomination.

With 48.3 percent of the vote, Cruz won at least 33 of the state's 42 bound delegates. Though Trump scored 35.1 percent of the vote, the business mogul only earned three delegates per Wisconsin's winner-take-most system, which allocates three delegates based on results from each of the eight congressional districts. Wisconsin's remaining six delegates are unbound and can freely choose who they want to support without consideration of the vote.

Cruz, the loud Tea Partier-turned-unexpected establishment candidate, was all smiles as he accepted his Wisconsin victory. "God bless the great state of Wisconsin," Cruz said from Milwaukee, standing alongside former candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who official endorsed Cruz last week. Along with making a pretty shameless invocation of John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill in his victory speech, Cruz taunted Hillary Clinton, "Let me just say: Hillary, get ready. Here we come."

To win the Republican nomination, a candidate needs to secure 1,237 delegates, and with Wisconsin firmly under his belt, Cruz now has 502 delegates to Trump's 739. Just 769 delegates are up for grabs now, which means Trump would need to win a solid majority of the rest in order to pass that threshold.

That's why Wisconsin was so important for Republicans. All that delegate cheddar in the nation's cheese capital meant Trump would be more or less likely to hit that special number. But it's looking more and more like the Republican race is going all the way until the cows go home — at the convention.