US election 2016: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump rack up more wins
Reuters
Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have both won the most states in the biggest day of the race for the US presidential nomination.
Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia were among the states where both triumphed. Mr Trump was defeated by Ted Cruz in Texas and Oklahoma.
Democrat Bernie Sanders won three, including his home state of Vermont.
Super Tuesday sees 11 states voting on the biggest single day ahead of the 8 November presidential election.
Super Tuesday states won so far:
- Donald Trump (Republican): Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas
- Ted Cruz (Republican): Texas, Oklahoma
- Marco Rubio (Republican): Minnesota
- Hillary Clinton (Democrat): Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, Massachusetts
- Bernie Sanders (Democrat): Vermont, Oklahoma, Minnesota
The former secretary of state and real estate mogul entered Super Tuesday as the favourites to win the vast majority of states for their respective parties.
In her victory speech on Tuesday, Mrs Clinton appeared to already be looking towards a potential presidential race against Donald Trump, saying: "The stakes in this election have never been higher and the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been lower."
Donald Trump, for his part, insisted that he was a "unifier" who could put internal fighting in the Republican party behind him to focus on a general election race against Mrs Clinton.
"Once we get all this finished, I'm going after one person - Hillary Clinton," he told reporters in Florida, where he has been campaigning ahead of the state's vote later this month.
The billionaire also insisted he had "expanded the Republican party", referring to higher turnout from a broad demographic in states that have already voted.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz called on his rivals to drop out of the race, which he says would enable him to contend Mr Trump's lead more effectively.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was hoping to emerge as the main alternative to Mr Trump, won his first state on Tuesday in the Minnesota caucuses.
Analysis - Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter
Donald Trump's opponents entered Super Tuesday looking for slivers of hope, but they may end up with splinters of despair.
Thanks to large margins in the Washington DC suburbs of northern Virginia, Marco Rubio outperformed expectations in the state and nearly pulled off an upset victory. Ohio Governor John Kasich, with the backing of older and better educated voters, showed well in Vermont. And Ted Cruz won his home state of Texas and neighbouring Oklahoma, and is running strong in Arkansas.
All of this, individually, can be considered good news for the Trump resistance. But it also means all three presidential hopefuls are likely to stick around a while longer - continuing to present a fractured front against the man who continues to rack up wins and add to his delegate count.
No one candidate emerged on Tuesday as Mr Trump's top challenger. That's great news for Trump and, collectively, bad news for Republicans who don't want to see him as their party's nominee.
Meanwhile, among the Democrats, the evening is going largely as expected - which is little help to Bernie Sanders. While he won his home state of Vermont plus Oklahoma, Hillary Clinton is sweeping the South and racking up a sizeable delegate lead.
Mr Sanders won't concede any time soon but unlike the Republicans, the competitive portion of the Democratic race is probably approaching an end.
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Mr Trump has stunned the Republican establishment to become the party's front-runner. Despite his controversial policies on immigration, the former reality TV star has been consistently polling well above his rivals - Ted Cruz, Mr Rubio, Mr Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
Both Senators Cruz and Rubio have ramped up their anti-Trump rhetoric over the past week, in a bid to halt his commanding lead in the race. The outcome of Super Tuesday will be critical for both candidates to remain the race.
On the Democratic side, Mrs Clinton had already secured three wins in the first four early-voting states and has led significantly among blocs of black voters there.
Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has put up an unexpectedly strong challenge against the former secretary of state after his sweeping victory in New Hampshire last month.
Addressing cheering supporters at his victory speech in Vermont on Tuesday, Mr Sanders aimed a jibe at the Republican front-runner saying: "We are not going to let the Donald Trumps of the world divide us."
Voters have been casting their ballots across the country, from Massachusetts and Virginia on the east coast to Texas and all the way to Alaska.
Super Tuesday is pivotal in the presidential nomination race, with nearly a quarter of the 2,472 Republican delegates are up for grabs and some 20% of all delegates for the Democrats.
Follow the primaries race with the delegate tracker, provided by the Associated Press (AP)
