Sanders surprise victor in Michigan; Trump keeps winning

LANSING (AP) - Bernie Sanders breathed new life into his long-shot White House bid with a crucial win in Michigan's primary Tuesday night, chipping away at Hillary Clinton's dominance in the Democratic presidential race. Republican Donald Trump swept to victory in both Michigan and Mississippi, overcoming fierce efforts to blunt his momentum.

Gogebic County

In Gogebic County, voters favored Sanders and Trump in their respective races.

Democratic voters chose Sanders over Clinton; with Sanders getting 790 votes, or 52.3 percent, to Clinton's 678 votes, or 44.8 percent.

Martin O'Malley's 3 votes accounted for .2 percent of the Democratic ballots cast, while Rocky De La Fuente received 1 vote in the county. County Democratic voters cast 38 votes for an uncommitted option, while two ballots had write-in candidates.

Gogebic County Republicans followed the state-wide trends, with Trump carrying the county with 753 votes, or 43.8 percent of votes cast. Ted Cruz took second in Gogebic County, with 399 votes or 23.2 percent. John Kasich came in third with 325 votes or 18.9 percent. Marco Rubio rounded out the top four with 173 votes, or 10.1 percent.

A combined 39 votes were cast for the other Republican candidates appearing on the ballot, all of whom had announced they were dropping out the race prior to Tuesday's election.

The county had a 26.2 percent voter turnout in Tuesday's election, according to information from the Gogebic County Clerk's office.

Ontonagon County

In Ontonagon County voters also selected Sanders over Clinton and Trump over the entire field.

In the closest race on the ballot, Sanders tallied 362 votes or 49 percent to Clinton's 327 votes or 44.3 percent. Forty-three voters were uncommitted.

The Republican primary in Ontonagon County found Trump in first place with 519 votes or 47.5 percent. Next in line was Cruz with 209 votes, followed closely by Kasich with 203, Rubio 95, Ben Carson 13, Chris Christie 7, Jeb Bush 9, Rand Paul 5, Mike Huckabee 3, Rick Santorum 3, Carly Fiorina 2 and Lindsey Graham rounded out the field with 1. Twenty three voters were uncommitted.

Moving Forward

Even with Sanders' win, Clinton and Trump moved closer to a general election face-off. Clinton breezed to an easy victory in Mississippi, propelled by overwhelming support from black voters, and she now has more than half the delegates she needs to clinch the Democratic nomination. Trump, too, padded his lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, his closest rival.

The front-runners turned their sights on November as they reveled in their wins.

"We are better than what we are being offered by the Republicans," Clinton declared.

In a nod toward the kind of traditional politics he's shunned, Trump emphasized the importance of helping Republican senators and House members get elected in the fall. Having entered Tuesday's contests facing a barrage of criticism from rival candidates and outside groups, he also delighted in overcoming the attacks.

"Every single person who has attacked me has gone down," Trump said at one of his Florida resorts. He was flanked by tables packed with his retail products, including steaks, bottled water and wine, and defended his business record more thoroughly than he outlined his policy proposals for the country.

Sanders, meanwhile, said Michigan signaled that his campaign "is strong in every part of the country, and frankly we believe our strongest areas are yet to happen."

While a handful of recent losses to Cruz have raised questions about Trump's durability, Tuesday's contests marked another lost opportunity for rivals desperate to stop his march to the nomination. Next week's winner-take-all contests in Ohio and Florida loom large as perhaps the last chance to block him short of a contested convention fight.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich was in a fight with Cruz for second place in Michigan and hoping a good showing would give him a boost heading into next week's crucial contest in his home state.

For Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Tuesday marked the latest in a series of disappointing nights. He emerged from Michigan and Mississippi with no new delegates, a grim outcome for a candidate who has the overwhelming support from Republican senators, governors and other elected officials.

Rubio insisted he would press on to his home state's primary in Florida next Tuesday.

"It has to happen here, and it has to happen now," Rubio told supporters during a rally in Sarasota.

If Rubio and Kasich can't win at home, the GOP primary appears set to become a two-person race between Trump and Cruz. The Texas senator is sticking close in the delegate count, and with six states in his win column he's argued he's the only candidate standing between the brash billionaire and the GOP nomination.

During a campaign stop at a North Carolina church, Cruz took on Trump for asking rally attendees to pledge their allegiance to him. He said the move struck him as "profoundly wrong" and was something "kings and queens demand" of their subjects.

Some mainstream Republicans have cast both Trump and Cruz as unelectable in a November face-off with the Democratic nominee. But they're quickly running out of options - and candidates -to prevent one of the men from becoming the GOP standard-bearer.

Republicans were also holding contests Tuesday in Hawaii and Idaho.

The economy ranked high on the list of concerns for voters in Michigan and Mississippi. At least 8 in 10 in each party's primary said they were worried about where the American economy is heading, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Among Democrats, 8 in 10 voters in both states said the country's economic system benefits the wealthy, not all Americans.

Sanders has sought to tap into that concern, energizing young people and white, blue-collar voters with his calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. Michigan, with big college towns and a sizeable population of working-class voters, was a good fit for him, though something of a surprise victory given that Clinton had led in polls heading into Tuesday's voting.

Still, Sanders has struggled mightily with black voters who are crucial to Democrats in the general election. In Mississippi, black voters comprised about two-thirds of the Democratic electorate and nearly 9 in 10 backed Clinton.

After Tuesday's results, Clinton has accumulated 1,214 delegates and Sanders 566, including superdelegates. Democrats need 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

With Tuesday's wins, Trump leads the Republican field with 428 delegates, followed by Cruz with 315, Rubio with 151 and Kasich with 52. Winning the GOP nomination requires 1,237 delegates.

Editor's Note: Daily Globe reporters Richard Jenkins and Jan Tucker contributed to this story.