Super Tuesday, the day on which more states vote in the presidential primary campaign than any other day of the race, led to big wins for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
As of 10 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1, GOP races had been called in seven states, and Democratic races in eight.
Trump won by at least 18 percent in four states, with his narrowest win coming in Virginia, where Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) trailed him by only 3 percent. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) won in Oklahoma and his home state of Texas.
In a press conference in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump addressed reporters, flanked by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who dropped out of the presidential race on Feb. 10.
“Politicians are all talk, no action – except for Chris Christie,” Trump said. “It’s not going to happen with these people.”
Trump said that he would be able to make decisions more quickly in the Oval Office than politicians.
Trump took questions from reporters and mainly discussed building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, updating the country’s infrastructure and the energy of the Republican Party. He fielded at least three questions about the Ku Klux Klan, in reference to his failure to immediately reject support he has received from former KKK grand wizard David Duke.
As of 10 p.m., races had still not been called in Vermont and Minnesota, although Trump was leading in both.
Clinton took the delegates in six states, with Sanders taking two. The lead was relatively large for Clinton compared to previous caucuses and primaries – she won by at least 29 percent of reported votes in each state except for Oklahoma and Vermont, where Sanders won by 11 and 72 percent, respectively.
Clinton targeted GOP frontrunner Trump in her speech to voters, which was also delivered in Florida.
“That work (Clinton’s effort) is not to make America great again,” Clinton said. “America never stopped being great. We have to make America whole again.”
Clinton’s speech focused mainly on raising wages for the middle class and creating more jobs.
Democratic races had not been called in Massachusetts, Colorado or Minnesota at the time of publication.
The Super Tuesday states are not winner-takes-all states, where the winning candidate takes all of the state’s delegates. However, all but three of the states that participated in Super Tuesday do have a “ceiling” for delegates, according to Real Clear Politics. If candidates reach a ceiling percentage of delegates, between 50 and 85 percent in the states that voted Tuesday, then they get to claim all of the delegates in the state for their party’s convention.
The Florida primary will take place March 15.