FINAL RESULTS: Hillary Clinton, John Kasich Win Ohio Primaries

The final Ohio primary election results are in: Secretary Hillary Clinton and Ohio Governor John Kasich both took home wins in the Buckeye State.

Secretary Clinton won the Ohio primary with 57% of the Democratic vote, while her opponent, Bernie Sanders, received just 43%.

Kasich won with 45% of the Republican vote. His most threatening opponent, Donald Trump, received 37%. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who later dropped out of the presidential race, received 13% and 3%, respectively.

Voters in Ohio turned out in high numbers to give their governor, John Kasich, a campaign-saving victory over Donald Trump in the GOP race for president and a huge momentum swing for Hillary Clinton, who won handily in the state over Bernie Sanders following her crushing loss last week in Michigan.

Kasich became one of only three candidates left among the Republican field, which began more than a year ago with 17 people and a whole lot of optimism about recapturing the White House.

That field shrunk when Marco Rubio dropped out of the race following a humiliating defeat to Trump in the senator's home state of Florida.

Case Western Reserve University Political Science Department Chair and Case Western's Flora Stone Mather College for Woman professor, Dr. Karen Beckwith, said some of Kasich's moves on primary election night surprised her.

“I believe candidates are doing whatever necessary to stop Donald Trump on the way to the convention,” she said. “I’m surprised that Kasich didn’t do this by endorsing Rubio in Florida since he was doing so poorly in his home state. It would have cost him very little to give his support to Rubio there.”

Kasich had criss-crossed the state right up to voting time and beyond in a last-ditch effort to beat his nearest challenger, Trump, who followed his pattern of attacking the closest candidate between him and GOP delegates, this time in Ohio and this time with its governor.

Trump's attacks didn't work.

Kasich campaigned on his record as governor, which in reality has not been as positive as he's portrayed but has also been nowhere near as dismal as claimed by Trump, who told campaign rallies in Ohio that their state was a "disaster" an "embarrassment" and "dead."

Kasich highlighted the 400,000 Ohio jobs created under his watch while state income taxes were cut, though wages and income have not kept pace with the nation's, and the reduced state tax burdens were mostly shifted to localities.

Nevertheless, in a state seeing any rebound after decades of losses, mostly in the manufacturing sector, Kasich has been an enormously popular governor.

"To have people believe in you," he told a crowd in Berea, and, pausing to compose himself, added, "I have to thank the people of the great state of Ohio. I love you."

Trump, defiant as usual, partly blamed negative advertising on his loss, though he went negative in Ohio first and Kasich let others criticize the developer rather than get in the mud himself.

Beckwith said she anticipates Sanders to continue his campaign despite his losses because Democratic party rules should prevent him from dropping out of the race until all national delegates are counted.

“Clinton's' win in Ohio is bad news for the Sanders camp, obviously," she said. "But no one is a loser here on the dem side in this state. Sanders will still be awarded the delegates he won here because Ohio is not a winner-take-all state for democrats.”

Clinton was on the move trying to avoid the same kind of upset in the Buckeye State as she suffered to Sanders last week. She spoke to a rowdy crowd of supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she also won over Sanders.

"The next president of the United States has three big tasks," Clinton said. "First, they must have a positive impact on the people. Second, they must keep us all safe. And third, they must bring the country together again."

Clinton said she was prepared to do all three if elected in November.

"Thank you Florida, thank you North Carolina and thank you Ohio!" she said to the West Palm Beach crowd as she wrapped up her speech.

• See Also: Full Ohio Democratic Primary Results
• See Also: Full Ohio Republican Primary Results

Ohio was the most-watched state in the country with its 66 winner-take-all delegates at stake in the Republican race.. All of Florida's 99 delegates, went to the victor there, too, but that race long looked like it will go to Trump, and it did.

• See Also: Patch's Complete Primary Coverage: Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Illinois

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Refresh this page for full Ohio primary results as they come in. Last updated at 12:15 a.m. EST

Republicans (100% of precincts reporting)

Donald Trump: 36%

John Kasich: 47%

Ted Cruz: 14%

Marco Rubio: 2%

Democrats (100% of precincts reporting)

Hillary Clinton: 57%

Bernie Sanders: 43%

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• See Also: The Real Super Tuesday: Primary Results for Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina

A win for Trump in Ohio would have given him a clearer path to the nomination and likely push Kasich out of the race; a win for Kasich would jeopardize Trump's ability to lock up the required number of delegates heading into the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Shortly after polls closed, the Florida primaries were called for Clinton and Trump.

Republicans who are not Trump supporters have been throwing everything they can to stop the nomination of the billionaire businessman, and Monday failed candidate Mitt Romney stood at Kasich's side to campaign with him.

"You look at this guy and unlike the other people running, he has a real track record," Romney said at an airport hangar in North Canton, Ohio. "He has the kind of record that you want in Washington. That’s why I’m convinced you’re going to do the right thing tomorrow — agreed?"