USA TODAY GOP Power Rankings: Cruz The New King in Week 16

There is a new king in town, and the king is Ted Cruz.

The Texas senator raced past the field to take first place for the first time in the 16th week of our GOP Power Rankings, in which we ask 30 smart political types who is the strongest Republican presidential candidate.

Donald Trump appeared to be in command a week ago on the heels of the San Bernardino shooting, but the turn toward Cruz was swift and decisive. A week ago, Trump received 20 first-place votes from our panel and Cruz got three. This week, on the strength of great poll numbers in Iowa, Cruz took 17 first-place votes and Trump took only 9. Marco Rubio got the remaining first-place ballots.

Read the rest of the story HERE, watch a related video and follow links to previous weeks below:



Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6
Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9
Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12
Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15

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