# 2016 Louisiana Republican presidential primary

"none" is preferred when the title is already sufficiently detailed; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
Elections in Louisiana :
Federal government
Presidential elections
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1864
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Presidential primaries
Democratic
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Republican
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
U.S. Senate elections
1812
1813
1813 sp
1817
1818
1818 sp
1819
1823
1824
1824 sp
1825
1829
1831
1831 sp
1833 sp
1835
1836 sp
1837
1837 sp
1840
1843
1844 sp
1847
1847 sp
1848
1852
1853
1853 sp
1859
1868
1876
1876 sp
1879
1882
1889
1891
1894
1894 sp
1896
1900
1904
1908
1910 sp
1912
1914
1918
1918 sp
1920
1924
1926
1930
1932
1936
1936 sp
1938
1942
1944
1948
1948 sp
1950
1954
1956
1960
1962
1966
1968
1972
1974
1978
1980
1984
1986
1990
1992
1996
1998
2002
2004
2008
2010
2014
2016
2020
2022
2026
2028
U.S. House of Representatives elections
1812
1814
1816
1818
AL sp
1820
1822
1824
1826
1828
1830
1832
1834
1st sp
3rd sp
1836
1838
1840
3rd sp
1843
1844
4th sp
1847
1849
1850
2nd sp
3rd sp
1851
1853
1855
1857
1859
1868
1870
1872
4th sp
1873
4th sp
1874
1876
1878
5th sp
1880
1882
1884
1886
2nd sp
1887
6th sp
1888
1889
3rd sp
1890
1892
1894
4th sp
1896
5th sp
1898
1899
5th sp
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1st sp
1909
2nd sp
1910
2nd sp
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
2nd sp
1926
1927
7th sp
1928
1929
3rd sp
1930
1931
8th sp
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
3rd sp
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1961
4th sp
1962
1964
4th sp
1965
7th sp
1966
1968
1970
1972
7th sp
1973
2nd sp
1974
1975
6th sp
1976
1977
1st sp
1978
1980
3rd sp
1982
1984
1985
8th sp
1986
1988
4th sp
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
1999
1st sp
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
1st sp
6th sp
2010
2012
2013
5th sp
2014
2016
2018
2020
2021
2nd sp
5th sp
2022
2024 :
State government
General elections
2007
2010
2011
2015
2019
2020
2023
Gubernatorial elections
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1830 sp
1834
1838
1842
1846
1849
1852
1855
1859
1863 (C)
1864 (U)
1865
1868
1872
1876
1879
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1975
1979
1983
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023
2027
Lieutenant gubernatorial elections
2011
2015
2019
2023
Attorney General elections
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023
Treasurer elections
2017 sp
State Senate elections
2019
2023
House of Representatives elections
2023 :
Ballot measures
2004
Amendment 1 :
Baton Rouge
Mayoral elections
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024 :
New Orleans
Mayoral elections
1866
1930
1934
1946
1950
1958
1962
1965
1969
1973
1977
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2017
2021
2025
City Council elections
2006
2010 :
Shreveport
Mayoral elections
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022 :
Government :
vte :
The 2016 Louisiana Republican presidential primary was held on March 5, 2016, as part of the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries. In this primary, voters in the United States state of Louisiana voted on who the Republican nominee for President of the United States should be in the 2016 United States presidential election. The Democratic Party held their Louisiana primary on the same day.
The Republican primary in Louisiana was a closed primary, meaning that only registered Republicans could vote in it. It was won by Donald Trump, with Texas Senator Ted Cruz finishing in second place.

## Delegate allocation rules

Louisiana's 2016 Republican primary had a total of 46 delegates available. They were allocated as follows:
* 18 delegates were awarded to the winner of one of Louisiana's congressional districts.
* 28 delegates were at-large, meaning they were awarded proportionally based on the percentage of the vote a candidate received in the entire state. Candidates had to receive at least 20 percent of the statewide vote to receive any at-large delegates.
* If any delegates were left over, they became unbound and could support whichever candidate they wanted at the convention.

## Results

Louisiana Republican primary, March 5, 2016 :
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Actual delegate count | Actual delegate count | Actual delegate count |
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Bound | Unbound | Total |
| Donald Trump | 124,854 | 41.45% | 25 | 0 | 25 |
| Ted Cruz | 113,968 | 37.83% | 18 | 0 | 18 |
| Marco Rubio | 33,813 | 11.22% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Kasich | 19,359 | 6.43% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben Carson (withdrawn) | 4,544 | 1.51% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeb Bush (withdrawn) | 2,145 | 0.71% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rand Paul (withdrawn) | 670 | 0.22% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Huckabee (withdrawn) | 645 | 0.21% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Christie (withdrawn) | 401 | 0.13% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carly Fiorina (withdrawn) | 243 | 0.08% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rick Santorum (withdrawn) | 180 | 0.06% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lindsey Graham (withdrawn) | 152 | 0.05% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unprojected delegates: | Unprojected delegates: | Unprojected delegates: | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Total: | 301,241 | 100.00% | 46 | 0 | 46 |
| Source: The Green Papers ||||||

## Analysis

The Louisiana primary was called for Trump by the Associated Press about half an hour after the polls closed. Trump's victory in Louisiana was seen as evidence against the argument, made by some of his critics, that he would do worse in a closed primary, in contrast to his defeat in the Kansas caucus that was held the same day. It was also viewed as an opportunity to see whether Cruz's campaign was gaining momentum, and whether Cruz was well-positioned to defeat Trump and win the nomination. Trump's relatively narrow victory over Cruz, whom he beat by less than four percentage points, contrasted with many polls of Louisiana in which he had a double-digit lead over Cruz. However, the fact that Trump won the state at all was in line with the results of every primary poll conducted there.
Among those who voted early in the primary, Trump beat Cruz by almost 24 points, but Cruz defeated Trump among those who voted on Election Day, which led the race to be relatively close statewide. The stark contrast between early and Election-Day results led to the Louisiana primary facing criticism from critics of early voting. Trump's strong performance among those who decided who they wanted to vote for further in advance of the primary in Louisiana was different from most previous contests, in which Rubio had generally done better among early deciders.
On December 23, 2015 the Donald J. Trump campaign announced that political advisor Ryan Lambert was selected as Louisiana's Campaign State Director.

## Delegate dispute

Initially, because the race in Louisiana was relatively close (Trump won by only 3.6%), Trump and Cruz each received 18 of the state's 46 delegates. Marco Rubio won five more delegates, and the remaining five were "unbound", meaning they could choose to support whichever candidate they wanted. After Rubio withdrew from the race, the five Louisiana delegates that had been pledged to him became "free agents" who, like the five previously unbound delegates, were expected to support Cruz.
In March 2016, it was reported that, despite having lost the Louisiana primary to Trump, Cruz could get more of the state's delegates overall, because he could receive support from more of Louisiana's unbound delegates than was Trump. Despite the reporting of their support to Cruz, a majority of Rubio's delegates rebuked the false reporting and voted with Donald J. Trump.
In response, the Trump campaign announced that they would challenge the delegate distribution in Louisiana, with Trump himself tweeting that a "lawsuit" would be coming. Trump campaign senior adviser Barry Bennett responded by saying that Trump was referring to a "decertification process" that the campaign would pursue through the Republican National Committee.
In response to Trump's claims, Republican Party of Louisiana executive director Jason Dore stated in March 2016 that the proportional delegate allocation rules for Louisiana's primary were adopted before Trump announced his presidential candidacy, and that it was too late by then to change them. Dore also said that Cruz was not going to receive more delegates than Trump, adding, "Everybody's been allocated what they're going to be allocated."