Donald Trump won his first Republican presidential caucus election in Nevada on Tuesday night, crushing his fellow GOP candidates by double digits.

Unfinished Vote Count But An Obvious Result

With 76.3 percent of the precincts reporting, as of 3:50 a.m. EST Wednesday morning, Trump comfortably won the Nevada Republican caucus with 45.13 percent, or 25,606 votes. Similar to the South Carolina Republican primary, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz battled for second place once again. The Florida senator continued to edge the Texas senator but it has been too close to call. With the same number of precincts reporting, Rubio narrowly received 23.59 percent to Cruz's 22.20 percent, or 13,382 votes to 12,597 votes.

For the remaining GOP presidential candidates, Ben Carson and John Kasich, both fell onto single-digit figures. Specifically, Carson outdid Kasich with 5.10 percent to 3.49 percent, respectively. Several names who have previously suspended their presidential campaigns still received votes, such as Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush.

Speaking to supporters from the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas, Trump said, "We love Nevada. We love Nevada. ... A couple months ago we weren't expected to win this one, you know that, right? We weren't. Of course if you listen to the pundits, we weren't expected to win too much, and now we're winning, winning, winning the country -- and soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning."

Trump spoke about the different electoral groups that reportedly went in his favor.

"We won the evangelicals, we won with young, we won with old, we won with highly educated, we won with poorly educated -- I love the poorly educated. We're the smartest people; we're the most loyal people," said Trump. "And you know what I'm really am happy about? I've been saying it for long time -- 46 percent with the Hispanics, 46 percent, No. 1 with Hispanics. I'm really happy about that."

Trump's statistic about the Hispanic vote refers to exit polling data that surveyed small percentages of voters. Exit polling from CNN showed Trump won 45 percent of Latinos participating in the survey, but only 8 percent of the respondents were Hispanic, significantly low compared to 85 percent of white respondents -- who also favored Trump at 47 percent.

Caucus Management Problems?

As the caucuses were underway, reports circulated about potential voting irregularities and violations, lack of voting ballots and potential bias from volunteers. Photos on social media featured caucus volunteers with clothing gear of specific candidates, which caused concerns among some, but the Nevada Republican Party was quick to dismiss any issues.

"It's not against the rules for volunteers to wear candidate gear. Volunteers went through extensive training [and] are doing a great job," wrote the Nevada GOP on Twitter.

The Nevada GOP also acknowledged record turnout, although final numbers were not released as of early Wednesday morning.

From the Other Political Aisle

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the Nevada GOP results showed Trump is on his way to win the Republican Party's nomination.

"After years of pandering to extremists, the Republican Party is now stuck with what it created: a field of extreme candidates with views far out of the mainstream and out of touch with the American people. At least with Trump, he's not shy about exposing what the Republican brand has truly become," said Wasserman Schultz, who also labeled Cruz and Rubio as extremists but are better at hiding it.

"Well the voters are seeing right through it, which is why Marco Rubio got exactly zero delegates out of South Carolina in his virtual tie with Ted Cruz and was dealt a fourth consecutive loss by the voters of Nevada tonight," added the Florida congresswoman. "The losers tonight will no doubt try once again to spin their failure as a victory. It's not."

Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, board member for People for the American Way and supporter for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, called Trump's Nevada win "frightening" and also took aim at Cruz and Rubio.

"Donald Trump's win in Nevada makes the frightening reality of a Trump White House closer than ever. His unapologetic racism should scare all Americans. Of course, it's not just Trump. Just this week, Ted Cruz spoke out in favor of mass deportation, and Marco Rubio has said that he'd end DACA on Day One of his presidency. Hundreds of thousands of DREAMers could face deportation under a President Rubio."

"Given the increasingly dangerous rhetoric and policies we're hearing from the Republican presidential candidates, it's critical that we talk with our families, friends, and neighbors about what's at stake in this election and ensure that everyone we know is ready to vote in November!" added Huerta.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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