Donald Trump's victory in Louisiana was expected by many. The GOP front-runner had a significant lead in the polls going into the state's election. | AP Photo Trump narrowly wins Louisiana

Donald Trump pulled out a narrow win in the Louisiana Republican primary, besting his chief rival Ted Cruz by less than 4 percentage points in a state where he was once leading by double digits.

Trump’s victory was widely expected, as he led every poll heading into Saturday’s primary. He made two significant state appearances, including rallies in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, while his rivals campaigned sparsely. Cruz made an appearance in Baton Rouge on Friday, but Sen. Marco Rubio’s rally was canceled as he redirected his efforts toward his home state of Florida.


Louisiana awards its 46 Republican delegates on a proportional basis. Trump won 41.4 percent of the vote to Cruz's 37.8 percent, with Rubio trailing behind at 11.2 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich lagged badly in fourth place with 6.4 percent. As of midnight on Saturday, the AP had awarded Trump 15 delegates and Cruz 14 delegates, with another 17 delegates yet to be allocated.

Cruz appears to have benefited from a collapse in Rubio's support, with early voting counts generally around 10 percentage points higher for the Florida senator than his performance on election day.

View final results: http://politi.co/1oGcEFv

2016 delegate tracker: http://politi.co/2176fPm