Super Tuesday Results: Clinton, Trump Win Big; Rubio on the Ropes; Cruz Finds a Heartbeat

LATEST RESULTS, LIVE UPDATES BELOW

DEMOCRATIC WINNERS

Hillary Clinton: Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts and Georgia.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Vermont, Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota

REPUBLICAN WINNERS

Donald J. Trump: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and Massachusetts

Sen. Ted Cruz: Texas, Oklahoma

Sen. Marco Rubio: Minnesota

See the bottom of this post for links to all of Patch’s local coverage of state-by-state results.

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Tens of thousands of people across a dozen states went to the polls Tuesday and we’re pretty much where we were when everyone woke up Tuesday morning: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are in the lead.

The one real difference is that what were big leads in the morning had grown to almost insurmountable by night.

As expected, Clinton swept the south and did so in convincing fashion. The closest races there were in Tennessee and Virginia. In both states she beat Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by 29 points. Her best performance came, not in Arkansas where she was first lady, but in Alabama where she won by 59 points.

It wasn’t all bad news for Sanders.

He won his home state by 72 points and also won Oklahoma, Colorado, Vermont and Minnesota.

On the Republican side, it will be very hard now for anyone to argue that Donald Trump can’t win the nomination.

Since Super Tuesday became a thing in 1988, every Republican candidate who won that day, went on to win the nomination.

And Trump did win, chalking up substantial victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz did win his own state, as well as Oklahoma. The problem is that of his second places loses to Trump, the closest he came was a seven point loss in Arkansas. After that, there was a 16 point loss in Georgia and a 17-point loss in Tennessee. He lost by 20 or more in several states.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio discovered Tuesday that having the Republican establishment start to rally around you this late only goes so far.

He won Minnesota, but it's worth remembering this is the state that has also elected a former pro wrestler and a former writer for Saturday Night Live to statewide office.

Rubio has been telling people just wait until his home state votes.

Two problems with that strategy: first, it’s two weeks away and second, Rudolph Giuliani had the same strategy a few years ago. He spent tens of millions of dollars and ended up with one delegate.

Next up on the calendar: Saturday: the Democrats caucus in Maine and Kentucky while the Democrats caucus in Nebraska. The same day, Kansas and Louisiana have primaries. On Sunday, the Democrats caucus in Maine and the Republicans have a primary in Puerto Rico.

Next Tuesday - primary in Michigan. Clinton is expected to win as is Trump. Rubio might finish second and, even if he finishes third, he will say, just wait until Florida.

- by Colin Miner

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PATCH'S LIVE UPDATES FROM SUPER TUESDAY EVE

11:41pm EST

Meanwhile in New Jersey:

Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to endorse Donald Trump has provoked the ire of a number of editorial boards in his home state.

Tuesday evening, six USA TODAY network newspapers published joint editorials demanding that Gov. Chris Christie resign from office following his failed presidential bid and endorsement of Donald Trump. The editorial begins:

What an embarrassment. What an utter disgrace.

We’re fed up with Gov. Chris Christie’s arrogance.

We’re fed up with his opportunism.

We’re fed up with his hypocrisy.

We’re fed up with his sarcasm.

We’re fed up with his long neglect of the state to pursue his own selfish agenda.

The newspaper editorial encourages voters to recall Christie if he won’t resign.

This comes the same day that the Union Leader, New Hamphire’s largest newspaper, retracted its earlier endorsement of Christie in a scathing editorial, writing, “Boy, were we wrong.”

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11:24pm EST

This one bucks the trend: Minnesota goes for Marco Rubio, his first victory of the primary season. Rubio is leading Cruz 37% to 28% in the caucus, with Trump in 3rd place -- his worst finish so far -- with 21%.

On the Democratic side: Bernie Sanders takes his 4th victory of the evening, after another apparent victory in Colorado, according to the AP.
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11:20pm EST

For those Patch readers who just can’t get enough Ted Cruz, we’ve got the video of his speech tonight, in which he makes the case that he is the only Republican candidate who can win against Donald Trump.

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11:12pm EST

And now various outlets are projected Hillary Clinton as the winner of Massachusetts, where as Patch’s Alison Bauter has been reporting, women came out big for Clinton, giving her a major win in the northeast.
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11:08pm EST

Dennis Robaugh, Patch’s Midwest manager, is on the case in Minnesota. He writes:

Minnesota saw huge turnouts throughout the state, which caused some precincts to run out of ballots, according to reports. There also were reports of traffic snarls and packed parking lots at caucus locations. With 6 percent of the vote in, the Minnesota caucus results were too close to call at 11 p.m. Eastern time. Among Democrats, Sanders led Clinton, 59 percent to 41 percent, a result that reflected Minnesota’s affinity for Sanders’ progressive positions.

On the Republican side, Rubio led Cruz 37 percent to 28 percent. Trump was trailing a distant third. Minnesotans clearly turned their noses up at Trump’s off-putting insults and positions that could, in Gopher State terms, be described as just not very nice. The same could be said for Cruz, for that matter. Rubio made several appearances here ahead of the caucus. Minnesota was seen as a state Rubio could win, and he was endorsed by former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former U.S. Sens. Norm Coleman and Rudy Boschwitz, and U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen.

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10:56pm EST

The latest maps:

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10:55pm EST

Patch’s Alison Bauter has this from Boston, on the Massachusetts Democratic Primary:

Women made up a majority of Massachusetts Democrats voting Tuesday, and a 15-point advantage with that demographic appears to have helped Clinton eke out a narrow win over Sanders in the Bay State. As of 11 p.m. ET, the race is officially designated as undecided. Clinton leads Sanders 51-48 percent with three quarters of precincts reporting.

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10:42pm EST

Tom Delay, the former Republican Speaker of the House, told Chris Matthews that he’d have to “search his soul” about whether he’d support Trump if he’s the nominee. “I think he’s dangerous for the party,” Delay said. “I think he’s dangerous for the country.”

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10:33pm EST

We have video now of Donald Trump’s speech before supporters in Florida, in which he addresses Hillary Clinton, the KKK, the Wall and the price Paul Ryan will pay if he doesn’t get along with a President Trump.

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10:27pm EST

Morgan Searles, a Patch correspondent in the Midwest who has been covering the Oklahoma primaries, writes:

Ted Cruz successfully convinced most of Oklahoma’s Republican voters he’s the right man for the job as America’s president — or at least that he’s the right guy to beat Donald Trump for the party’s nomination. Cruz rallied supporters days before Super Tuesday in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, where he stood strong on his pro-Second Amendment stance and promised to give Oklahoma a voice. Cruz found the most support in Beaver, Cotton and Roger Mills counties, according to Politico election results.

On the Dems:

Bernie Sanders may have struck a chord with Oklahoma voters during his Feb. 28 rally in Oklahoma City, where thousands listened as he promoted criminal justice reform and equal pay for women, and he criticized Donald Trump’s rhetoric as bigotry. Pollsters predicted Sanders would win the state primary and pointed out his success may come from the relatively small number minority voters in Oklahoma. Sanders’ greatest support came from Coal, Ellis, Washita and Woodward counties, according to Politico election results.

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10:19pm EST

And now it’s Cruz’s turn at the podium, and he makes the case to Republican voters that he -- and not Marco Rubio --is the only candidate who can beat Donald Trump, whom he called “a disaster for Republicans, for Conservatives and for the nation.”

“And after tonight, we have seen that our campaign is the only campaign that has beaten, that can beat and that will bet Donald Trump,” he said.

Cruz called Trump “profane and vulgar,” and said, “America shouldn’t have a president that says words that you would be embarrassed to hear your kids repeat.”

As Cruz was speaking, Trump was projected as the winner of the Arkansas primary.

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10:12pm EST

I think we need to start a #gofundme page to get #chrischristy the hell out... #freechrischristie pic.twitter.com/D9cMnylg9G

— Michael W. Silvia (@wvshrk) March 2, 2016

An Internet meme -- #freechrischristie -- takes off after Gov. Chris Christie’s wide-eyed appearance behind Donald Trump before supporters in Florida. There is no evidence that Christie was being held against his will.

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9:40pm EST

Gov. Chris Christie introduces Donald Trump before supporters in Florida, and Trump wastes no time laying into Hillary Clinton’s call for unity.

“She wants to make America whole again, and I’m trying to figure out what that’s all about. ‘Make America great again’ is going to be much better than ‘make America whole again.’”

Trump spends much of his speech decrying the loss of American jobs as companies move overseas, and insists “I am a unifier. People are going to find that hard to believe, but I am a unifier.”

On the KKK, Trump says, “I disavowed.” And insists, “We are going to build a wall.”

“100% -- Mexico is going to pay for the wall,” he said.

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9:34pm EST

A little after 9:30pm on the East Coast, a number of races are still too close to call. On the Republican side, John Kasich and Donald Trump are running close in Vermont; in Arkansas, Trump holds a 7-point lead over Marco Rubio.

On the Democratic side, in Massachusetts Hillary Clinton has a 5-point lead with just 36% of the vote tallied.

Polls have yet to close in Colorado, Minnesota and Alaska.

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9:16pm EST

Rubio goes full-bore on Trump.

At a rally in his home state of Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio showed no signs of letting up on his attacks of Donald Trump. “Five days ago we began to explain to the American people that Donald Trump is a con artist,” Rubio said. “The presidency will never be held by a con artist.”

Rubio has yet to win a primary in 15 contests. His best bet appears to be Arkansas, where he is a close second to Trump with less than 3% of the votes tallied.

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9:12pm EST

Multiple outlets are now calling Oklahoma for Sen. Ted Cruz. By winning both his home state and Oklahoma, Cruz has likely avoided a knock-out blow from Trump and will almost certainly extend the increasingly bitter contest for the GOP nomination.

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9:03pm EST

And now multiple outlets call the Lone Star state for Sen. Ted Cruz on the Republican side, and for Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side.

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8:59pm EST

Addressing supporters in Florida, Hillary Clinton doubled down on the distinctions she drew between herself and Donald Trump’s message of division on Saturday night in South Carolina.

“The work is not to make America great again,” she said. “America never stopped being great. But we have to make it whole again.”

“I believe what we need in America today is more love and kindness,” she said. “You know what? It works.”

“Trying to divide america between us and them is wrong,” she said. “And we’re not going to let them do that.”

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8:52pm EST

CNN and NBC News have called Virginia for Donald Trump, a huge win for the real estate developer over Sen. Marco Rubio.

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8:42pm EST

Trump’s fragmented opposition.

Midway through the evening’s results, Trump has won outright in four states. But in the remaining states where the results are still too close to call, Trump is battling different Republican contenders. He’s in too-close-to-call territory in Arkansas with Cruz, in Virginia with Rubio and in Vermont with Kasich. So far in the campaign, no single candidate has emerged to challenge Trump, and it seems unlikely that any such candidate will emerge tonight.

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8:37pm EST

Patch’s Alison Bauter, in Massachusetts, sums up Trump’s performance in her state like this:

A high-turnout Super Tuesday election in Massachusetts has delivered a Donald Trump victory, with potentially historic numbers of voter participation statewide.

Five minutes after polls closed, the Associated Press called the state for the New York businessman. CNN exit polls suggest Massachusetts follows a national trend, with a third of voters identifying as angry. CNN also shows Trump winning support on nearly every issue, from the economy to government spending, with special emphasis (a margin of more than 70 percent) on the issue of immigration.

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8:30pm EST

As the polls close in Arkansas, NBC News has called the Democratic race for Hillary Clinton, an expected victory for the former first lady of the state.

On the Republican side, the race between Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald J. Trump is too close to call from exit poll results. We’ll have to wait for the count.

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8:18pm EST

The story lines developing so far tonight: Hillary Clinton is sweeping the South, in part due to her extremely strong showing among black voters. Donald J. Trump is proving that his campaign for the Republican nomination is not just for real, but quite nearly a foregone conclusion, as he notches double digit victories in several key states.

Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio are running side by side for second place in multiple contests, while Gov. John Kasich has managed to reach 20% of the electorate in just two states, Massachusetts and Vermont.

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8pm EST

Donald J. Trump has won Massachusetts, Alabama and Tennessee, while Hillary Clinton continues her sweep of the South, winning Tennessee and Alabama.

The Democratic race in Massachusetts is currently too close to call. It’s also too early for results yet in Oklahoma, though the polls have closed.

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LIVE UPDATES

7:59pm EST

With 15% of the vote in in Virginia, Trump leads Rubio 37 to 32%, but exit polls show Rubio performing well in the DC suburbs.

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7:48pm EST

Donald J. Trump’s victory in Georgia comes with a rich prize; 76 delegates were at stake.

At the top of the hour, polls close in Texas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama.

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7:35pm EST

CNN has called Georgia for Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, in Vermont, Sen. Bernie Sanders took the podium before frenzied supporters chanting “Feel the Bern.” “This campaign is about not just electing a president but transforming America,” Sanders said. “It is about dealing with some unpleasant trusths and having the guts to confront those truths.”

Sanders managed to take a swipe at pretty much every touchtone issue of his campaign: Billionaires and their “corrupt” form of democracy, unequal wealth distribution, the criminal justice system and health care.

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7:24pm EST

Sanders woes with black voters continue. Exit polls show Clinton taking 83% of the black vote in Georgia, with Sanders claiming just 17%. The result is consistent with Clinton’s domination of the black electorate in South Carolina last week, and bodes well for her Tuesday night across the South.

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7:03pm EST

CNN calls Georgia and Virginia for Hillary Clinton, and Vermont for Sen. Bernie Sanders. On the Republican side, Sen. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump are in a tight race in Virginia.

The win in Georgia is particularly sweet for Clinton, who lost the state to Barack Obama in 2008 by over 30 points. Sanders win in his home state Vermont was expected.

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7:01pm EST

Find state totals here:

• MA 2016 Republican Presidential Primary Results: Voters Have Their Say
• MA 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary Results: Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders | Patch
• VA 2016 Republican Presidential Primary Results: Voters Get Their Say
• VA 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary Results: Voters Get Their Say | Patch
• Super Tuesday 2016 Democrat Results And Winner: Polls Open Across Arkansas
• Georgia Republican Primary Results
• Georgia Democratic Primary Results
• Super Tuesday: Texas 2016 Democratic Primary Results
• Super Tuesday: Texas 2016 Republican Primary Results
• Super Tuesday 2016 GOP Results And Winner: Polls Open Across Arkansas
• Super Tuesday: Minnesota 2016 Caucus Results
• Oklahoma 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary Results
• Oklahoma 2016 Republican Presidential Primary Results
• VT 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary Results: Voters Get Their Say
• VT 2016 Republican Presidential Primary Results: Voters Get Their Say

Following a disappointing showing in Iowa and a thumping by Sanders in New Hampshire, Clinton rallied for an impressive win in Nevada and then pummeled him in South Carolina, where she won nearly three-quarters of the vote.

More important, she won the backing of nearly 90 percent of black voters, signaling a refortification of a once-reliable voting block which will have huge sway in many of the Super Tuesday voting states.

With a Southern sweep — or even close to one — Clinton would make a Sanders nomination even more unlikely.

The Republican race could end up looking like the end of the nomination process, too, especially for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz if he doesn’t capture his home state.

The states with the most delegates up for grabs – are Texas and Georgia, and nearly a quarter of all delegates to the national conventions will be decided when Super Tuesday is over.

Voting was reported to be heavy in many states.

In the Texas capital of Austin, a handful of voters said they had trouble with voting machines.

A conservative radio station reported that some half-dozen polling machines in the county were automatically switching people’s votes from Donald Trump to Marco Rubio.

At least three voters called into KLBJ radio station’s “Todd and Don Show” to report the alleged unauthorized switcheroo.

Voting officials said they are investigating.

In spite of recent controversial statements on white supremacists and nasty exchanges at the most recent Republican debate, Trump continues to lead the GOP field. He had 49 percent support compared to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 16 percent and Cruz’s 15 percent in a new CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday. Dr. Ben Carson follows with 10 percent supporter, trailed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 6 percent.

Even Kasich predicts Trump is likely to win all the Republican contests on Tuesday. Kasich told CNN: “I think Trump’s probably going to win all of them.”

But that doesn’t faze Kasich, who says he will win Ohio’s March 15 primary and the large crowds he’s drawn at campaign events will turn into wins in other spring primaries.

Texas – home state of Iowa Caucus winner Sen. Ted Cruz – has the most delegates to award on Tuesday, with 155. If Cruz can’t win Texas, his GOP bid is crippled, political watchers predict.

The latest numbers from a Vermont Public Radio polls how the state’s independent streak is paying off for anti-establishment candidate Trump. He leads the Republican field with 32 percent of the vote in that poll, with Rubio coming up second with roughly 17 percent of likely Republican voters in his corner.

We’ll have breaking coverage of Super Tuesday poll results for every state here.