NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Latest on the Tennessee Super Tuesday presidential primary (all times local):
3:30 p.m.
Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander have cast their ballots for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in Tennessee’s Republican presidential primary.
Haslam and Alexander endorsed Rubio in the closing days of the primary campaign in Tennessee, arguing that he represents the best chance to win the general election this fall.
They both appeared at a Rubio rally at the Knoxville airport in Knoxville on Monday. Haslam told the crowd at that event that a supporter of Donald Trump had tried to argue that the candidate would change if he becomes the nominee or the president.
Haslam said he responded that it would be “too late” if Trump wins. In Haslam’s words: “The decisions are too hard, the consequences are too big for our country.”
Haslam voted in his hometown of Knoxville, while Alexander voted in Townsend.
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2:20 p.m.
Memphis artist Lisa Goodwin says she voted for Democrat Bernie Sanders in Tennessee’s Super Tuesday presidential primary but doesn’t expect him to win the nomination.
Goodwin says she just wanted to show her support for Sanders and says she isn’t afraid of his ideas, which she called “socialist.”
Sanders’ opponent, Hillary Clinton, got the support of Gloria Pryor-Lewis and her daughter, Greta Lewis, who voted at Central Christian Church in Memphis on a rainy day. The women are black, and Greta Lewis praised Clinton’s support of minorities.
John K. O’Brien Jr. of Memphis said he voted for Donald Trump, who O’Brien said has “backbone” and isn’t obligated to anyone. O’Brien said Trump is running to “change the country.”
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12:15 p.m.
Julia Price, an attorney from Knoxville, says she registered for the Republican primary specifically so that she could vote against Donald Trump.
Price, who cast her vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said she wanted “to vote for somebody who wasn’t Donald Trump” in the hope that the New York billionaire wouldn’t win Tennessee.
Normally, she says she’s a Democrat and she plans to vote that way in the general election.
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10:05 a.m.
People are heading to polling places across Tennessee to cast ballots for their candidates in the Super Tuesday presidential primary. Voters at a polling place in Nashville had different reasons for supporting candidates.
Russell Harwell, a Nashville attorney, said he decided to support Republican Marco Rubio after Jeb Bush dropped out. He says endorsements from Gov. Bill Haslam and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist helped him decide on Rubio over Ted Cruz.
Retired real estate agent Penny Teselle said she voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton because “she’s the most qualified.”
Meanwhile, aspiring composer Michael Quintana stood outside a polling station at Belmont University blowing a conch in support of Bernie Sanders.
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6 a.m.
Tennessee voters are heading to the polls to make their choices in the state’s Super Tuesday presidential primary.
The primary comes after several days of spirited campaigning around the state by all five candidates seeking the Republican nomination and by one of the two Democrats remaining in the race.
Sixty-seven delegates are up from grabs in the Democratic primary, while 58 Republican delegates will be split up among any candidates that reach a threshold of 20 percent of the vote.
While Tennessee Republicans have given the nod to religious conservatives in the last two presidential primaries, Donald Trump has drawn huge crowds and widespread support in this year’s campaign.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and Sen. Lamar Alexander have endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
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