Rick Santorum was projected the winner of the 2012 Kansas Caucus on Saturday by the AP.
In the contest, 40 delegates were at stake. The results come less than one week after ten states held primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday.
With 91.3% of precincts reporting, Santorum had secured 51.6% of the vote over Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.
Santorum spokesperson Hogan Gidley said in a statement, "We are very pleased to see the Santorum surge sweeping through the Jayhawk State," adding, "This is a great win for the campaign and further evidence that conservatives and Tea Party loyalists are uniting behind Rick as the true, consistent conservative in this race."
Following his win, Santorum thanked his supporters at a rally in the neighboring state of Missouri.
"We're not electing a CEO, we're electing a commander-in-chief," he told the crowd. "And there's one person who has experience doing that."
While on the campaign trail in Kansas on Friday, Santorum took aim at rival Republican contender Romney and likened the former Massachusetts governor to President Barack Obama. He cast himself as the only choice for conservatives in the race for the White House.
Santorum said, "We already have one president who doesn't tell the truth to the American people. We don't need another." He added, "Gov. Romney reinvents himself for whatever the political occasion calls for."
Meanwhile, Gingrich insists that he has no intention of abandoning his campaign.
The race for the Republican presidential nomination will now turn to the South ahead of the Alabama primary and Mississippi primary, which will take place on Tuesday. Voters in Hawaii will cast ballots in the state's caucus the same day.
From delegates to endorsements, click here for a rundown on who's running ahead in the primary race.
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