Former President Donald Trump racked up wins across the country after voters took to the polls in more than a dozen Super Tuesday states with hundreds of delegates up for grabs.
While former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley pulled out a narrow upset victory in the Vermont primary, Trump won Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Maine, Alabama, Massachusetts, Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota and California, The Associated Press projected. Republican contests in Alaska and Utah have yet to be called.
“They call it Super Tuesday for a reason. This is a big one,” Trump said in a speech following his victories. “And they tell me — the pundits and otherwise — that there’s never been one like this, there’s never been anything so conclusive. This was an amazing, an amazing night, an amazing day. It’s been an incredible period of time and our country’s history. It’s been sad in so many ways, but I think it’s going to be inspiring because we’re going to do something that, frankly, nobody’s been able to do for a long time.”
Trump’s Super Tuesday victories carried him within striking distance of locking up the Republican nomination, and lessened Haley’s already long odds to overcome the former president.
President Joe Biden also secured wins in the Democratic contests for Virginia, Vermont, Iowa, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Maine, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, Utah and California according to the AP. He was defeated in American Samoa by little-known candidate Jason Palmer.
Trump also racked up several wins in the days ahead of Super Tuesday, including the North Dakota caucus, the Michigan primary, the Michigan caucus, the Idaho caucus and the Missouri caucus. The former president has also won the South Carolina primary, the Nevada caucus, the U.S. Virgin Islands caucus, the New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucus.
Haley lost to the “None of These Candidates” option in the Nevada primary, which did not count for delegates. The former ambassador notched her first win in the Washington, D.C., primary on Sunday.
Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington will hold their respective nominating contests on March 12. Several other states follow on March 19, including Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio.
Trump’s campaign previously estimated in a memo that the former president would have enough delegates by March 12 at the earliest and March 19 at the latest to surpass the Republican National Committee’s 1,215 threshold.
