(Updated) Clinton, Trump notch wins in Louisiana primaries; they're St. Mary's picks, too

Both billionaire Donald Trump and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton will go into the next round of voting Tuesday with wins in Louisiana's presidential primary.
Louisiana was one of five states with contests Saturday. Clinton beat out Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Louisiana Democratic primary win while Trump bested Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich for victory in the Republican primary contest.
Clinton and Trump were also the first choices for St. Mary Parish Democrats and Republicans.
In St. Mary, Clinton re-ceived 1,995 of the parish’s 2,736 Democratic votes or 73 percent. Sanders got 535, or 20 percent.
Trump earned 1,600 of the 2,997 votes cast by parish Republicans, or 53 percent. Cruz was next with 878, or 29 percent, followed by Rubio with 305, or 10 percent and Kasich with 133, or 4 percent.
“I believe that as a party, we had a very good showing,” said Christian Gil of Berwick, who serves on the Republic Party State Central Committee. “Trump’s really helped us I believe. It’s got a lot of people involved in the party.”
Trump’s candidacy in-creased the state’s primary voter turnout significantly compared to 2012, Gil said.
Statewide turnout for the Republican primary was 36.3 percent, or 301,169 voters, up from the 24 percent, or 186,410 voters, who cast ballots in the 2012 primary.
Gil will attend the state Republican convention Saturday, seeking to become an at-large delegate for Cruz, he said.
Turnout for the state Democratic primary also greatly surpassed the 2012 turnout. A total of 311,613 voters, or 23.3 percent of registered voters, cast ballots Saturday in the Louisiana Democratic Primary. In the state’s 2012 Democratic primary, just 11.9 percent, or 150,601 voters, cast ballots.
Democratic State Central Committee member Anna Cunningham of Morgan City said Saturday’s primary played out the way she thought it would.
Clinton’s name recognition and being former President Bill Clinton’s wife helped her win Louisiana, Cunningham said. Cunningham served as delegate in 1992 for Bill Clinton when he ran for President.
“This has been one of the wildest election years I have ever seen in my life,” Cunningham said. “It’s dominating the TV, the newspapers, everything.”
For many voters, Trump’s outsider stance and political independence added to his allure.
“I’m tired of what’s going on in Washington. We need a change,” said Jim Gillen, 73, a retired oil refinery worker who voted in Baton Rouge. “Cruz and Rubio, they’re part of Washington.”
In the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Arnold Benitez, 80, voted with his son. Both cast their ballots for Trump.
“Trump. I’ll vote for him all the time,” Benitez said. “He’s a better man. He’s what people really want to say, what people want to hear. And he’ll get the job done.”
Cruz was running second in Louisiana as Rubio appeared a distant third. Trump also won in Kentucky. But Cruz victories in Kansas and Maine ensure that there will be no quick end to what has been a bruising Republican race.
Many in the GOP worry that a Trump victory would lead to a disastrous November election and have been looking for a way to derail him.
But both Benitez and his son cautioned that if there was a sense that the Republican establishment somehow maneuvered to keep Trump from the nomination, many Republicans might just stay home come November.
Trump has tapped into a wellspring of frustration among many voters in Louisiana and elsewhere.
While many economic indicators have been improving, stagnant wages for many blue-collar workers, rising rents or mortgages, and stock market volatility have all contributed to a sense among some voters that there’s little relief, said Joshua Stockley, associate professor of political science at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Among those voters who feel economically and politically frustrated, Trump does very well, Stockley said.
For Clinton, Louisiana marked another state in the South where she’s scored a victory and this one by a large margin. Sanders won caucuses in Kansas and Nebraska on Saturday.
Clinton said she was “thrilled” to add to her pledged delegate count.
Speaking at a Democratic Party dinner in Detroit on Saturday night, Clinton congratulated Sanders and said she was grateful to people who supported her before turning her attention to one of the next big showdowns, this time in Michigan, which votes Tuesday as does neigh-boring Mississippi.
Clinton has drawn on strong African-American support throughout states such as South Carolina, Arkansas and Alabama to notch wins over Sanders.
Jay Edwards, 78, in Baton Rouge voted for Clinton in the Democratic primary. For him, her experience was what counted.
“She’s the only professional person that has worked in government and has enough competence to do a sensible job there,” he said.
Edwards, professor emeritus of anthropology at LSU, said while he likes Sanders, he didn’t think Sanders could accomplish his campaign promises.
Larrin Orellana, 43, voted with his family at a Metairie polling place. He said he voted for Clinton, albeit with some reservations about her trustworthiness.
“I trust her more than I do the Republicans but I think she’s part of the whole, big machine. But anyone but Trump I guess,” he said. Orellana, who immigrated from Ecuador, said initially he’d been excited about a Trump candidacy but was later turned off by his rhetoric. When asked why he chose Clinton over Sanders, Orellana said Sanders was too far to the left.
“I think Bernie is way too left and you need a centrist,” he said.
—The Associated Press contributed to this article.