Long lines, rare chance for D.C. Republican voters

Voters line up in Washington D.C.

Republicans in America's capitol had a rare opportunity to influence the presidential race on Saturday.

Nineteen delegates, the same number as in Hawaii, were up for grabs in Washington D.C. as voters headed toward the polls. The opportunity to vote in the primary was "an unprecedented event created by a quirk of party and local election rules," according to the Associated Press.

The city of about 670,000 is largely Democrat. Just 6 percent – 27,000 voters – are Republicans. As a result, voters had a tremendous influence on how the city's delegates are divided.

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"In terms of being a D.C. Republican, we have not mattered this much in a presidential primary since Frederick Douglass was a precinct captain here," D.C. GOP executive director Patrick Mara said.

There were no early polls about which candidate was likely to win in the nation's capital. A straw poll held at a party fundraising dinner last month gave Donald Trump a narrow lead, but the sample size was too small to be conclusive.

Voting was held in the Loews Madison hotel, which resulted in long lines down the block, criticized as “poorly managed" by some voters.

By the close of voting, Marco Rubio had won with 37 percent, followed by Kasich at 36 percent, Trump at 14 percent, and Cruz at 12. In all, less than 2,000 people cast ballots.

Wyoming, which had 29 delegates up for grabs, went to Cruz by a wide margin. The Texas senator won 66 percent of the vote compared to Rubio's 20 percent and Trump's 7 percent.

Source: NBC News