It is looking more likely that Donald Trump will face Hillary Clinton in the United States presidential election coming up later in the year as both closed in on their party’s nominations by racking up big wins on Super Tuesday, though the rest of the field showed no signs of clearing the way for them just yet.
Clinton won seven states — Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, and even Massachusetts, a state where rival Bernie Sanders was expected to run particularly strong. The former secretary of state fell to Sanders in his home state of Vermont, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Colorado.
Trump scored seven victories Tuesday in Massachusetts, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and in Vermont. Sen. Ted Cruz picked up much-needed wins in his home state of Texas and in Oklahoma, and was the projected winner in the Alaska caucuses. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio picked up the first victory of his presidential campaign by winning the Minnesota caucuses, leaving John Kasich and Ben Carson as the only candidates without a No. 1 finish in a nominating contest.
Cruz used his victory speech in Texas to urge the rest of the GOP field to exit the race and allow him to challenge Trump one-on-one, saying it is the only way to defeat the real-estate mogul.
Despite strong showings by the leading candidates, Sanders and the rest of the Republican field gave no indication they would abandon their White House bids. Each had sought to downplay expectations heading into Super Tuesday, stressing that they could add delegates even without winning states.
For the Republican, Trump had secured 292 delegates, followed by Cruz with 192, Rubio with 98, Kasich with 23 and Carson with 8.
For the Democrats, Hilary Clinton had secured 1001delegates with 371 for Senator Sanders.
