Just moments after polling places throughout the state closed down, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was declared the winner of the Louisiana Republican presidential primary by both the Associated Press and Fox News.

With a majority of polling precincts reporting, Santorum captured just over 49% of the vote in Louisiana. His closest rival, Mitt Romney, came in second with roughly 26% of voters.

Santorum's win here comes as no surprise; in the run-up to Saturday's primary, poll after poll showed he had the edge over every other Republican presidential challenger, including Romney and Newt Gingrich.

As expected, Santorum performed well among conservative and evangelical voters, but he was able to eke out votes from among self-described moderates, a demographic usually more in line with Romney, according to Fox News exit polls.

In terms of the number of delegates, though, Romney is still the clear national frontrunner. Romney has 560 delegates, while Santorum has 246, Gingrich has 141, and Ron Paul has 66. 1,144 delegates are needed in order to win the Republican nomination outright.

It's still unclear how the 20 delegates up for grabs in Louisiana will be distributed.

 

 

 

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