LANSING, Mich. – Presidential candidates in both parties were looking to Michigan on Tuesday for one of the largest delegate hauls to date in the bruising nominating contests, with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump attempting to secure their holds on front-runner status.
Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are vying for 130 delegates in the Democratic primary, not including superdelegates unbound to the public vote. On the Republican side, 59 delegates are up for grabs among businessman Trump, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.
In recent days, the former secretary of state and Sanders tangled aggressively over economic issues in industrial Michigan, which lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in a protracted economic downturn. They also held a debate in Flint, where residents need filters to use tap water because of lead contamination resulting from state regulatory failures.
Oriana Barnett, a stay-at-home mom and a Democrat from Ann Arbor, said she decided after Sunday’s debate that she would support Sanders. She cited his firm stance against fracking and Clinton’s “more conservative” answers.
“I voted with my heart, not my head,” she said.