U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky won the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll Saturday, his third victory in as many years.
This year he carried 26 percent of the vote. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz placed third, with 11.5 percent, while former Gov. Rick Perry came in eleventh, with 1.1 percent.
Both Paul and Cruz openly campaigned at the event. Cruz volunteers distributed custom-made buttons that said "Cruz Crew." Perry had a smaller get-out-the-vote operation at the conference.
The contest comes after three days of speeches from presidential contenders and noteworthy conservative activists. On Thursday, Cruz touted his battles within the GOP, while Perry attacked President Obama on foreign policy.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/28/conservatives-name-straw-poll-winner/.