Three days after he drew a crowd of thousands to the county fairgrounds in Coeur d’Alene, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz stormed North Idaho and the rest of the Gem State to win Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary. It’s the seventh state win in his bid for the White House; you can read our full story here at spokesman.com. Cruz finished ahead of GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who earlier Tuesday won the day’s two biggest prizes – primary elections in Mississippi and Michigan.

With 79 percent of Idaho precincts counted, Cruz was assured a win with 44 percent of the vote. Trump was second with 28 percent. If those percentages hold, Cruz will claim 19 of Idaho’s delegates and Trump will receive the remaining 13. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will get none.

In Kootenai County, with a third of precincts reporting, Cruz was ahead with 44 percent of the vote, followed by 33 percent for Trump, 12 percent for Rubio and 7 percent for Kasich.

Elsewhere in the Idaho Panhandle, Cruz was winning in Bonner, Boundary and Benewah counties as well. Trump was leading only in Shoshone County.

Still to come are the results from the GOP’s caucuses in Hawaii.

Idaho state Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, celebrated the Cruz win Tuesday night in Boise. He grabbed a Cruz sign off the wall at the GOP election night watch party as the crowd dwindled and people cleared out.

“I’m pretty excited,” Vick said. “I think Idaho’s a conservative state. I think most of the Republicans respect somebody who’s a consistent conservative.”

Idaho state Treasurer Ron Crane, state chairman for the Cruz campaign, said, “I think that he represents the values that Idaho Republican voters believe in. I think he connected with Idahoans – his timing was perfect.”

Crane recalled the overflowing rally and “energy level” of the Cruz campaign stop Saturday in Coeur d’Alene.

“I think he has a good shot at winning the nomination,” he said. “He’s the man you’d better get behind if you want to stop Donald Trump. And I hope he picks Marco Rubio as his running mate – I think they’d be a great team.”

Idaho GOP Chairman Steve Yates said, “We congratulate Sen. Cruz on his victory. Now it’s time for the party to come back together and unite behind one candidate, and let’s elect a Republican in November.”

Amy Tarbutton of Coeur d’Alene turned out Tuesday to cast her primary ballot for Cruz, saying she’s impressed with his experience and leadership ability.

“I feel that he would be able to give Donald Trump a run for his money and be able to win in the overall election against Hillary Clinton,” Tarbutton said.

She also feels that Cruz understands what’s at stake with the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tarbutton admits to wavering between candidates during the race, including Ben Carson. But “Donald Trump was never on my list,” she said.

“The only thing Donald Trump knew about Idaho was that we had potatoes, and he kept saying I really like your potatoes,” she said. “To northern Idahoans, that’s insulting, because we’re so much more than that.”

Betsy Bennett of Coeur d’Alene was torn as she prepared to walk into a fire station to make her pick.

“Not Trump,” she said, calling the frontrunner bombastic, nasty and mean-spirited. “I like Kasich. But I’m wondering if I should go with somebody that probably could win, over Trump, and that could be Cruz. But then I love Marco Rubio, too. I don’t know what to do.”

A few minutes later Bennett emerged and said she went with Cruz, while her husband Roy voted for Rubio.

Lois Fuhriman of Coeur d’Alene also is no Trump fan. The billionaire businessman is running to boost his ego, she said, and his widespread support only shows that the electorate has “no common sense.”

“I do know we need a change, and I think we need some young blood,” Fuhriman said. “Who I really wanted was Ben Carson. He seemed like he had some common sense and he wasn’t blowing his own horn. I’d say he was the smartest of the bunch.”

But in the end she said she voted for one of the candidates still in the running.

Coeur d’Alene resident Peggy Countryman said she voted for “the lesser of all evils, Trump.”

“I just think Rubio is immature and acted like a kindergartener in the debates. And Cruz just doesn’t stand true. He doesn’t feel like truth,” Countryman said.

She added, “I’m 80, I’ve been through a lot of elections. This is the most interesting ever. I’d still like the right person to come in on a white horse and solve it all.”

Last year, state lawmakers bumped up Idaho’s primary after getting fed up with the GOP presidential nominee already being determined by the time the state’s Republicans cast their vote. However, the earlier date had some worried that turnout could be low, because Idaho GOP voters aren’t used to casting a ballot at this point in election season.

---

---