Live updates: March 1, 2016
Super Tuesday took place on March 1. This post provided hour-by-hour news, analysis, exit polls and results throughout the day of the contests.
Super Tuesday wrap up
With a string of Super Tuesday victories, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton confirmed that they are the true presidential front-runners for their respective party nominations.
Trump, the real-estate magnate and reality-TV star, is looking unbeatable with about a third of the delegates now chosen for the Republican nomination. What Trump is doing, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday night, is not simply a campaign; “it’s a movement.”
By winning Oklahoma, Alaska and his home state of Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz can now strongly assert that he is the best alternative to Trump. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio appears to be the odd man out among the GOP’s so-called Big 3, though he did manage to win his first state. He hit Trump hard over the past week, hurling insults at every opportunity, but ultimately found that such tactics only work for Trump. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson also remain in the Republican race. Kasich surprised by placing a close second in Vermont.
Former Secretary of State Clinton’s performance on Super Tuesday was as impressive as Trump’s, but Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders scored some significant victories. Sanders has largely set the agenda on the Democratic side and will continue to battle Clinton.
“Hillary Clinton was made a better candidate thanks to Bernie Sanders engaging her in a race to the top on popular economic populism issues like debt-free college, expanding Social Security, and jailing Wall Street bankers who break the law,” the liberal political action committee Progressive Change Campaign Committee stated tonight. “Had she run away from Elizabeth Warren-style ideas instead of working to ride an economic populist tide, many Super Tuesday results likely would have been different.”
Super Tuesday winners:
Alabama: Trump (43%), Clinton (78%)
Alaska: Cruz (36%), No Democrat caucus
Arkansas: Trump (33%), Clinton (66%)
Colorado: No GOP candidate caucus, Sanders (59%)
Georgia: Trump (39%), Clinton (71%)
Massachusetts: Trump (49%), Clinton (50%)
Minnesota: Rubio (37%), Sanders (62%)
Oklahoma: Cruz (34%), Sanders (52%)
Tennessee: (Trump (39%), Clinton (66%)
Texas: Cruz (44%), Clinton (65%)
Vermont: Trump (33%), Sanders (86%)
Virginia: Trump (35%), Clinton (64%)