This Is A Biggie For Ted Cruz

Successfully fending off a challenge from Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz is projected to win Texas, his home state. As of press time, Cruz leads Trump 41 percent to 28 percent.

Cruz will have to hit 50 percent in order to take all of the Lone Star State's 155 delegates with him to the GOP convention in Cleveland this summer. Texas is a winner-take-most state; if Cruz fails to make it to 50 percent, he will have to share delegates proportionally with some of the runners up. This was done to make the earlier GOP primaries more competitive and to allow the grassroots of the party a bigger say in the process.

In a more normal election cycle, Cruz shouldn't have trouble getting more than 50 percent of the vote. He was able to walk away with just over 56 percent of the vote during his 2012 bid for the Senate when he ran against Democrat Paul Sadler. However, this isn't a normal election year. Trump's performance in the primaries so far is proof positive of that.

While the Cruz campaign must be overjoyed that they managed to beat The Donald in its home state, not everyone is happy with the outcome.

Cruz's lead has opened up since Texas was first called for him hours ago; he gained almost two percentage points over Trump since that time. He is still short just about eight percentage points to make it past the winner-take-all benchmark of 50 percent. If he fails to do so, it might spell the end of his campaign. Currently, Cruz is asking his rivals to drop out of the race, in the name of "togetherness." When you're asking your fellow players to stop playing a game so you can win, well, it's not a good sign.

Fellow Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida appears to be edging out Cruz in Travis County by less than one percent with Trump less than two percentage points behind Cruz: for all intents and purposes, they are currently in a three-way tie until more votes can be counted.

Currently, a quarter of the votes cast in Travis County have been tallied, according to CNN. Travis County is home to Austin, Texas' capital city. If Cruz can't convince local power brokers in the capital city that he is a viable choice for president, it could spell trouble down the line for his bid for the White House. Travis County's results will be a nail-biter for the Cruz campaign, and could have ramifications for the GOP that ripple out way beyond the Lone Star State.

Image: CNN.com