TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The Latest on the 2016 presidential caucuses in Kansas. (all times Central Standard Time):
10:10 p.m.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has won 24 of the 40 national convention delegates from Kansas in the state’s Republican presidential caucuses.
Billionaire businessman Donald Trump picked up nine delegates Saturday. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won six, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, one.
On the Democratic side, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders captured 23 of the 33 delegates up for grabs.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won 10 of the state’s Democratic delegates.
But Kansas has an additional four party-leader superdelegates who can support any candidate, and one has endorsed Clinton.
Turnout also was high.
The state GOP said more than 81,000 people cast ballots in its caucuses, though more than 8,000 remained uncounted.
About 40,000 Democrats participated in their party’s caucuses.
Both exceeded 2012 totals.
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9:10 p.m.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has won the Kansas Democratic caucuses.
Based on results from across the state, Sanders scored a comfortable win over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Earlier, the Kansas Democratic party had announced Sanders as the winner but did not release detailed results.
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7:37 p.m.
The Kansas Democratic Party says Bernie Sanders has won its presidential caucuses.
The party made the announcement Saturday night, but did not release any vote count or results. The Associated Press has not called the race in Kansas as it waits for those results.
A pre-caucus rally Thursday for the Vermont senator in the liberal bastion of Lawrence drew several thousand people.
His backers overcame support for rival Hillary Clinton from former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and other Democratic establishment figures in the state. The Kansas Democratic Party says that Bernie Sanders has won its presidential caucuses.
The party said the declaration is based on 90 percent of districts reporting results.
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6:25 p.m.
Turnout in Republican presidential caucuses in Kansas have exceeded the party’s most optimistic predictions.
State GOP Executive Director Clay Barker said at least 73,000 people cast ballots in Saturday’s caucuses. He said there are another 6,000 provisional ballots and 1,000 absentee ballots sent to voters but not yet collected.
That compares to about 30,000 people voting in the state’s GOP caucuses in 2012 and about 20,000 voting in 2008.
The party had 60,000 ballots printed this year and then warned caucus sites to be prepared to print more.
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6:05 p.m.
Bernie Sanders supporters have turned out in large numbers at Democratic presidential caucuses in Lawrence and east Topeka.
The Vermont senator’s backers appeared to outnumber supporters of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at caucus sites Saturday at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School in Lawrence and at Highland Park High School in east Topeka.
At the east Topeka caucus, Melinda Kline supported Sanders because of his proposal to provide tuition-free education at public universities and colleges. The 52-year-old social worker from Burlingame has two children in college and says Sanders has been himself his entire career.
But in Lawrence, 30-year-old pharmacist Virginia Eliason, who voted for Clinton, said, “Who better to be in charge than someone who has a lot of experience?”
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5:45 p.m.
Ted Cruz will collect at least 17 delegates for winning the Republican caucuses in Kansas, and Donald Trump will win at least six.
Forty delegates to the GOP National Convention were at stake in Saturday’s caucuses. Thirty-seven are being allocated proportionally among candidates receiving at least 10 percent of the vote. The other three are party leaders who must support Cruz.
In the national race, Trump has 335 and Cruz has 248. Marco Rubio has 110 delegates and John Kasich has 25.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the GOP nomination.
At a rally in Idaho, Cruz declared, “God bless Kansas.”
The Texas senator said, “The scream you hear, the howl that comes from Washington D.C., is utter terror at what we the people are doing together.”
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4:40 p.m.
Ted Cruz has won the Republican presidential caucuses in Kansas. The Texas senator went into Saturday’s voting looking to cement his status as the only realistic alternative to billionaire businessman Donald Trump in the race for the GOP nomination.
Forty delegates to the GOP national convention were at stake.
Both Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio battled to be seen as Trump’s main rival.
Cruz won even through Rubio had endorsements from Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts.
Cruz’s top endorsement came from tea party favorite and Congressman Tim Huelskamp in the 1st District of central and western Kansas. But many rank-and-file conservatives also backed him.
Trump had the support of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
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4:30 p.m.
Turnout was heavy at many sites for the Kansas Democratic caucuses Saturday.
Supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders lined the streets outside Liberty Memorial Central Middle School in Lawrence, a crowd much larger than had turned out for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton there. Though Clinton is the choice of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and other state party establishment figures, Clinton faced a surge of new voters and energized progressives supporting Sanders.
In Wichita, Democrats lined up down the block outside the machinists’ union headquarters to get in to caucus. In the end, there were too many people to fit into the union hall so the caucus was held outside.
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3:20 p.m.
In early returns, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had an edge over New York businessman Donald Trump in the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses.
Trump leads the Republican race nationally, but in Kansas, most of the party establishment was wary of the billionaire businessman and were instead split between Cruz and Rubio.
Republicans reported heavy turnout statewide for the caucuses.
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12:50 p.m.
Four years ago 717 people voted in the Republican presidential caucus in Riley County, but this year the party’s leader says 1,700 ballots may not be enough.
County Republican Party Chairwoman Eileen King says the party sent her 900 ballots for the Saturday caucuses, and she had 500 extra printed for a total of 1,400 to begin the day. With high turnout she had another 300 printed Saturday, but she says those might not be enough.
King said that four candidates competing aggressively has led to increased interest in the caucuses.
The party has told workers at the 103 caucus sites to be prepared to copy extra ballots.
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12:15 p.m.
Kansas Republicans participating in the state’s presidential caucuses are split over whether they could support Donald Trump if he is the party’s nominee.
Frank Doan, a 59-year-old electrical sales representative from Olathe, voted for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at the Olathe South High School caucus site. He doesn’t believe even Trump knows what his views really are.
But he said he would vote for Trump if Trump is the GOP nominee because a Democratic president would be worse.
Michelle Dombrosky voted for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and the 48-year-old fitness center worker from Olathe said she would back the eventual GOP nominee.
But Matt Murphy said he would “absolutely not” vote for Trump. The 30-year-old cigar company sales representative from Gardner and his wife voted for Cruz and don’t trust Trump.
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11:25 a.m.
A top Kansas Republican Party official says presidential caucus sites across the state are reporting heavy turnout.
State GOP Executive Director Clay Barker said Saturday that even small counties are reporting more voters than they had anticipated. The party printed up 60,000 paper ballots in case the turnout was about twice as large as it was in 2008 and 2012.
But the party has told workers at the 103 caucus sites to be prepared to copy extra ballots.
Hundreds of Republicans waited in line at Olathe South High School in the Kansas City area, and delays in checking computer lists of registered voters were being reported. Barker said at the caucus site in Topeka, extra volunteers began checking paper registration lists.
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10:50 a.m.
Donald Trump told thousands of supporters at a Wichita rally Saturday that he had turned his plane around to come to Kansas in advance of the Republican presidential caucuses.
Trump had been scheduled to attend an annual gathering of national conservative leaders but he backed out to visit Kansas on caucus day.
The GOP front-runner said he would focus on getting rid of the Affordable Care Act, reinvigorating the military and building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
About 100 protesters were outside the rally venue.
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10:15 a.m. CST
Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder isn’t saying who he’s voting for in the state’s Republican presidential primaries but he’s promising to support the eventual GOP nominee.
Yoder said Saturday that his pledge includes Donald Trump.
Yoder visited the GOP caucus site at Olathe South High School in suburban Kansas City, part of his 3rd Congressional District. Several hundred participants had gathered as voting opened Saturday morning.
He said he wasn’t publicly endorsing a candidate because people are tired of hearing politicians tell them how to vote. Other elected officials and conservative activists were split between Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
Yoder said Trump is bringing new voters into the GOP.
He said, “We’re a broad-tent party. We’ve got room for everyone.”
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9:50 a.m.
Thirty-two-year-old Eduardo Aguilar drove two hours to attend the Trump rally in Wichita to see the candidate himself. He plans to support whoever the eventual GOP nominee is but is leaning toward voting for Trump during Saturday’s presidential caucus.
Aguilar, a soldier from Fort Riley who is Hispanic, says he will be turned off if the Trump rally is some kind of a Klan meeting. But he has lived in Texas and Mexico and supports stricter immigration laws, and he also will consider issues such as opposition to abortion and support for gun rights.
He said the country should elect “anybody but Hillary.”
Retired aircraft worker 68-year-old Dennis Perrine also was still trying to decide between Trump and Cruz. He says he’s looking for a candidate who will do what he says he’s going to do.
Regardless of the nominee, Perrine plans to vote Republican in the general election.
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1:20 a.m.
Both Democrats and Republicans are wondering whether their presidential caucuses in Kansas will be rocky soils for their front-runners.
GOP leader Donald Trump was making an appearance Saturday in Wichita just before voting started there. Challenger and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also was visiting and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had three campaign events Friday.
In Kansas, the billionaire businessman seemed more the insurgent. Most of the state GOP’s top elected officials and rank-and-file activists also were split between Cruz and Rubio.
Clinton had a different challenge. The former U.S. secretary of state is the choice of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and other state party establishment figures.
Her supporters worried about a surge of new voters and energized progressives boosting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ challenge.
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