Trump, Clinton rule day in Tennessee and Georgia, but Republican nomination perhaps uncertain

Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives to a signing of her book "Hard Choices", Thursday, July 17, 2014, in Ridgewood, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump pretty much steamrolled their party competitors Tuesday in most counties across Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia.

In Tennessee's Republican primary, billionaire businessman Trump easily claimed the top spot across the board, while Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio swapped for second, depending on the county. In the Democratic primary, former first lady and secretary of state Clinton easily dominated Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in all region counties.

Tuesday's primaries held few surprises, said Amanda Wintersieck, assistant professor in the department of political science and public service at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Wintersieck's expertise is American politics.

"I think we saw more or less what we expected to see from yesterday's primary," she said Wednesday.

Clinton and Trump both performed well in the South, as predicted, but the Republican nomination is far from decided while Clinton's Democratic nomination is growing more certain, Wintersieck said.

"I think this really shows the unification of the Democratic party, and we'll begin to see the Democratic primary wrap up," she said. "On the Republican side Trump was expected to do well, particularly in the South, but Cruz and Rubio also took states."

Rubio tends to outperform Cruz in urban areas with highly educated populations, while Trump and Cruz "do well in rural, evangelical areas," Wintersieck said.

Southeast Tennessee's largest counties, Hamilton and Bradley, had the lowest margins of victory for Trump, and Rubio outpaced Cruz for second place in those counties. In more rural Tennessee counties, Trump dominated but Cruz garnered more votes than Rubio. Ben Carson was a constant fourth place in every county but Grundy, where he displaced Rubio for third.

In Northwest Georgia's Democratic primary, Clinton won close victories over Sanders in Catoosa, Dade and Whitfield, while her margin was greater in Chattooga and Walker counties. Statewide, Georgia voters chose Clinton over Sanders 71 percent to 28 percent.

On the Republican side, Trump pounded Rubio and Cruz in all five Northwest Georgia counties. The closest contest with in Whitfield, where the front-runner outdistanced Rubio 5,945 to 2,672. Cruz was just behind Rubio at 2,292. Like Tennessee, Carson was a steady fourth place in the Peach State portion of the Chattanooga region.

Trump's statewide margin of victory was slimmer than Clinton's in Georgia. Trump garnered almost 39 percent of the vote compared with Rubio's 25 percent and Cruz's 23 percent.

DEMOCRATS

As a whole, Tennessee Democrats across the region favored Clinton by 50 percent or more in every county but Polk, where she netted about 48 percent of the vote to Sanders' 31 percent. In Northwest Georgia, Clinton's percentage never dipped below 50 percent and in Chattooga County it was almost 64 percent, compared with Sanders at 34 percent.

In Hamilton County, Democratic voters cast more than 64 percent of ballots for Clinton compared to 34 percent for Sanders.

Clinton's largest margin was in Van Buren County, where she took almost 68 percent of the vote. Meigs County voters gave Clinton just under 64 percent of the primary votes cast there.

Wintersieck said she didn't observe the specific precinct voting tendencies in the three Northwest Georgia counties where Clinton and Sanders were neck and neck, but she said demographics among voters have shown trends in other parts of the country.

"Bernie Sanders has been doing very well among college-educated younger millennials," Wintersieck said. "Hillary Clinton does very well with women and minorities."

REPUBLICANS

Trump trounced his two closest primary opponents by more than 25,000 votes across the region, while Marco Rubio slipped past Ted Cruz by a slim 437-vote margin throughout the 17 Tennessee counties in the Chattanooga area. Rubio was second to Trump in Hamilton County, 14,391 to 16,985, respectively.

In Northwest Georgia, Trump netted lower percentages but easily outpaced Cruz, Carson and Rubio. Trump performed worst in Catoosa among the region's five Northwest Georgia counties with 40 percent of the vote compared with Cruz and Rubio at 23 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Trump did best in Chattooga County with 51 percent of the vote.

As a percentage, Trump's worst performance in the region was in Hamilton County with a little less than 33 percent of the total ballots cast, and he did his best in Grundy County where he got almost 56 percent.

Ben Carson notched third place in Grundy County, getting past Rubio by eight votes.

"All the media headlines said Trump was the big winner yesterday. This is sort of a misnomer but the analysis has to be deeper than that," Wintersieck said.

The primaries for the Republican candidates will come down to delegate counts.

"The delegate count on the Republican side is nowhere near tied up," Wintersieck said. "In order to become the nominee, you have to have 1,237 delegates.

"Right now, Donald Trump is just over 300, Ted Cruz is just over 200 and Marco Rubio is just over 100. We're a third of the way through voting and nobody has collected a third of the delegates," she said.

Clinton, who could draw Republican voters angry over primaries, now has more than 1,000 delegates compared to Sanders' 408 delegates. A total of 2,383 delegates is needed for the nomination, she said.

Wintersieck said she predicts a prolonged Republican battle that will help the Democrats.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com, @BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.