Donald Trump Lost, But Still Got Delegates In WI

On Tuesday, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump proved that he is still beatable in the race for the Republican nomination — or, perhaps more fittingly, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz proved it. Cruz topped Trump in Wisconsin's Republican primary, as polls leading up to Tuesday's contests had predicted. Although Cruz successfully cut into his outspoken opponent's lead, Trump did snag some delegates in Wisconsin.

Shortly after midnight Wednesday, Trump had at least three delegates. Cruz led Trump in Wisconsin's pre-primary polls, and he made good on those expectations when he easily won in the Badger State on Tuesday. Cruz's victory isn't all that surprising: Wisconsin Republicans are known for being very conservative, and Cruz is about as conservative as it gets, especially in this race. Trump, on the other hand, has come under fire recently for his controversial comments about abortion and for his attacks on former candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Not to mention, Walker endorsed Cruz ahead of the primary in his state.

With Tuesday's victory, Cruz has made up some of the ground he needs to cover in order to reach Trump in the delegate count. Heading into the primary, Trump led Cruz by nearly 300 pledged delegates, but he was still shy of the Republican nomination by about 500 delegates. Needless to say, he didn't move much closer to the nomination on Tuesday night, but it certainly wasn't a total wash-out for the divisive candidate.

Trump was able to pick up delegates despite his loss because Wisconsin's Republican primary was not winner-take-all. Out of the 42 delegates up for grabs, 24 were allocated from congressional districts. The winner in each of Wisconsin's eight congressional districts won that district's three delegates. The remaining 18 delegates are known as at-large delegates, and they're assigned to whichever candidate won overall — in this instance, Cruz.

Trump will have to wait two weeks until he has another opportunity to earn back his large lead over Cruz. The delegate-rich state of New York, Trump's own stomping grounds, will vote on April 19, awarding nearly 100 delegates in the process. In the meantime, though, Trump's lead wasn't hurt too badly despite his loss in Wisconsin.