Super Tuesday 2016 as it happened: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton triumph in 12-state battle

This concludes IBTimes UK's live coverage of Super Tuesday.

With vast majority of votes in from Super Tuesday voting, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have been – as expected – the biggest winners.

There were few upsets as far as the two frontrunners were concerned and both can now call themselves the presumptive nominees for their respective parties.

Clinton was declared the victor in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Massachusetts, states with the largest number of delegates in the Super Tuesday contests.

Sanders won his home state of Vermont, Oklahoma , the Colorado caucus and the Minnesota primary.

Trump took the lion's share of states but lost out in key battles to Ted Cruz. The Texas governor carried his home state and picked up Oklahoma. He also looks set to win in Alaska. Marco Rubio won his first state of the race so far with a victory in Minnesota.

After yesterday's voting Hillary Clinton has 1,001 delegates and Sanders 371. Both are still in the running, in principal, but Sanders has an almost insurmountable uphill battle ahead of him to win the 2,383 delegates required for nomination.

With the majority of sates reporting more than 90% of their delegates, Trump has picked up 274; Cruz, 149; Rubio, 82; Kasich, 25; Carson, 8. With the GOP establishment clearly at odds with a likely Trump nomination, it is increasingly difficult for Kasich and Carson to justify their staying in the race despite the latter's strong showing in Vermont.

Ted Cruz has called on the other candidates to rally around him in a bid to topple the real estate mogul. However, even if this happens Trump is already by far the most likely candidate to cross the 1,237 delegate threshold for the nomination.

Hillary Clinton picks up her seventh win in Massachusetts, where it was a close race between the former secretary of state and the Vermont senator.

Minutes later, the Vermont senator has added yet another victory, this time in Minnesota. That's four state wins for Sanders tonight.

Democrat Bernie Sanders is adding another win, claiming victory in Colorado. Meanwhile, Republican Marco Rubio has nabbed his first win in the state of Minnesota.

"So long as the field remains divided Donald Trump's path to the nomination remains more likely. That would be a disaster for Republicans, for conservatives, and for the nation," declared Ted Cruz at his victory speech in Stafford, Texas. He called on candidates who have dropped out of the race and their supporters to unify behind him, the "only one that has beaten, that can beat and that will beat Donald Trump."

Trump has nabbed yet another victory. This time in the state of Arkansas. This signifies the sixth win for the real estate mogul.

"We're going to make America great again, folks," Trump vowed in his victory speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He dissed Hillary Clinton's similar vow, noting she has "been in Washington so long" already.

"It been a very tough night for Marco Rubio," he added, but congratulated Ted Cruz on his Texas win. Trump boasted that the "Virginia win was just a great win for us," singling out the one state Rubio had a chance at grabbing. "We have big investments in Virginia; it's been an amazing place to invest," Trump added.

He repeated that the "nation is in serious trouble," and losing the trade war. "China's leaders too smart for our leaders," he said. "We're going to redo trade deals and it's going to be a thing of beauty."

Asked if he felt like the presumptive nominee Trump said: "I'm feeling awfully good."

Making America great again will be much better than making America whole again.

- Donald Trump

Tonight is the beginning of Donald Trump bringing the Republican party for a big victory in November.

- Chris Christie introducing Trump before his speech in Florida

Tonight is all about how many delegates each candidate will win. The AP has been updating the delegate count for the seven candidates.

On the Democratic side, Clinton is leading by a large margin. The former secretary of state reportedly has 862 delegates to 209 for Sanders.

On the Republican side, Trump continues to lead with 221 delegates, while Cruz remains in second place with 69 delegates. Rubio remains firmly in third with 44 delegates, followed by Kasich with 19 delegates and Carson with 7.

h/t POLITICO

Hillary Clinton clearly drew a bead on Donald Trump in her victory speech in Miami, Florida, already gearing up for a general election that she sees as a contest between her and the New York real estate billionaire in the wake of both candidates' major victories across the board on Super Tuesday.

In a thinly veiled attack on Trump's anti-immigrant stance and his push to build a wall between Mexico and America, Clinton called for love not hate in America. "I believe what we need in America today is more love and kindness," Clinton said. "It's clear that the stakes in this election have never been higher. And the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been lower.

"All across our country today Democrats voted to break down barriers so we can all rise together," Clinton told supporters at her Miami headquarters. "We know we've got work to do, but that work is not to make America great again; America never stopped being great."

The race for Oklahoma has been called for Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Ted Cruz. This is the second win for both candidates.

Donald Trump might not be the biggest fan of the media — he recently called the press a "terrible group of people" — but he's planning to celebrate his big victories tonight with reporters, not supporters.

Dozens of reporters are already waiting at Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, which costs $100,000 to join. (The media was directed to use the service entrance.)

Trump plans to preen in the White and Gold Ballroom, decorated with gold moldings and three massive crustal chandeliers. The stage is lined with ten American flags.

The first two rows of gold-painted chairs have been reserved for Trump's family and special guests. A campaign staffer warned reporters not to damage anything.

Two minutes after the polls close in Texas, The AP has called it for Clinton and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. It is the first state Trump has lost tonight.

The race in Virginia has been called for Donald Trump, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio coming in second. Early exit polls suggested Rubio could pull off an upset in the southern state.

Georgia and Virginia exit polls clearly underscored Bernie Sanders' Achilles heel in the Democratic campaign. Polls in both states bared a huge lead among African American voters for Hillary Clinton.

Clinton was picked by 82% of black voters, while Sanders was backed by just 18%, according to a CBS exit polls. In Georgia, Clinton was backed by a slightly larger margin of African American voters, with 83% supporting her, according to CNN.

Clinton has already been projected as the clear winner in both states.

Less than 2 minutes after closing the polls in Arkansas, The AP is calling the Democratic race for Hillary Clinton.

Arkansas has officially closed its polls at 8.30pm EST/1.30am GMT.

Votes in Virginia are still rolling in:

Four additional states have closed, with several states being called for frontrunners Clinton and Trump.

Can Donald Trump nail down the GOP nomination with his Super Tuesday delegate tally?

There's no way. Even if he snatched up every possible delegate he'd still fall far short of the majority of delegates he needs — which would be 1,237 this year — to clinch the nomination. That's not to say he could snag big numbers and chalk up a mammoth psychological victory in the race.

Trump went into Super Tuesday with 82 delegates, nearly five times Rubio's and Cruz's totals at the start of the day. They're now battling over a total of 595 delegates, with Trump poised to take the lion's share.

No surprises here:

Virginia exit polls are giving Marco Rubio a glimmer of hope at trumping Donald Trump for the first time in the election. Rubio's campaign was feeling bullish after the candidate's sharp attack on his rival, presenting Trump as a shape-shifting con artist who wouldn't deliver on his promises.

Some late-deciding voters were apparently convinced by Rubio — and concerned about Trump's stalling in denouncing white supremacists, according to exit polls reported by Fox News.

Right now Rubio is running second to Trump in Virginia with 30% to Trump's 39% — but that's with only 1% of the votes counted.

Polls are set to close in the following states: Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Expect results to roll in shortly.

This campaign is not just about electing a president, it is about transforming America.

- Bernie Sanders

Delegate Update: Hillary Clinton set to get at least 108 from Georgia, Vermont and Virginia. Bernie Sanders will take home at least 57 delegates.

It's important not to forget America Samoa. The US territory is part of Super Tuesday, too. The 55,000 residents of the tiny group of islands off Australia are considered US nationals, but not citizens, so they can't vote for president. They are, however, caucusing to send 10 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July.

Last time around, voters went big for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama, so she's expected to clean up again. No presidential candidate has ever visited the distant shores during a campaign, but Chelsea Clinton did send a recorded message this time.

h/t MSNBC

Watch Bernie Sanders address the crowd in his home state of Vermont. The first state he's won tonight:

Donald Trump has nabbed his first win of the night, as he becomes the projected winner of Georgia. The votes are too close to decide in Virginia and Vermont.

It's important to note, that while the primaries in these first three states have been called on the Democratic side, we're still waiting for the full results. These votes will decide the number of delegates each candidate get.

CNN has already released it's projections on the Democratic side. Hillary Clinton is said to have taken Virginia and Georgia, while Bernie Sanders takes Vermont. These wins are not surprising. Sanders was expected to win his home state, while Clinton had a strong showing in the two southern states.

Now we're just mere minutes of the first polls closing in Georgia, Vermont and Virginia. Expect results to begin pouring in almost immediately. Sanders is expected to win his home state of Vermont, but Georgia and Virginia are likely to swing towards Clinton. For Republicans, Georgia and Virginia are the states to win.

With less than half an hour before polls close, exit polls are finally being shared.

In less than an hour, polls will close in three states. For now, we take a look at the delegates at stake tonight. There are several number floating around the web. Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight breaks it all down.

• Republicans: Most media outlets, including IBTimes UK, are reporting that there are 595 delegates at stake. However, there are also 66 other delegates up for grabs—37 in Colorado and 29 from Wyoming. Both states are holding caucuses today but neither immediately decides how many delegates each candidate will get. Instead, Republican voters will pick delegates for conventions at the county level in Wyoming and the state level in Colorado. These delegates are free to choose whoever they want.
• Democrats: There are 865 delegates up for grabs, but there are also 150 super delegates tied to the states voting today. Those super delegates will also be able to pick any candidate they desire. To add to the confusion, there are an addition 13 delegates tied to vote by Democratic US citizens living abroad. Eight super delegates—who only count as 4 delegates—are affiliated with the Global Presidential Primary.

h/t FiveThirtyEight

Ted Cruz is hoping for a big win in his home state of Texas. Several polls put him ahead of Trump in the Lone Star state, but as he's done before, Trump can surprise him and take the win.

If you missed our earlier post on primary and caucus closings, here are all closing times (EST/GMT):

• 6pm/11pm: American Samoa Democratic caucus
• 7pm/12am: Georgia, Vermont and Virginia primaries
• 8pm/1am: Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Tennessee primaries
• 8.30pm/1.30am: Arkansas primary
• 9pm/2am: Colorado Democratic caucus, Minnesota caucus and Texas primary
• 12am/5am: Alaska Republican caucus

In its hope to keep African-American voters in light of the KKK debacle involving Trump, the Republican National Committee (RNC) has released a video highlighting its support for the African-American community.

"The RNC is engaged in a 24/7, 365 day-a-year engagement effort to compete for black voters," RNC Communications Director for Black Media Orlando Watson said. "Released during Black History Month, the 'We Are The GOP' video highlights support for the RNC's engagement efforts from black Republicans across the country as well as highlighted our continued commitment to engaging communities of colour."

h/t CNN

A new poll released on 29 February shows Ben Carson leading his GOP rivals for the potential vice presidential pick for Donald Trump. Morning Call spoke to Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters who the frontrunner should pick as his running mate if he wins the nomination.

• Ben Carson: 11%
• Ted Cruz: 9%
• Marco Rubio: 9%
• John Kasich: 8%
• Chris Christie: 8%
• Jeb Bush: 4%

Another 40% were undecided.

It's a good thing Kasich didn't rate very high, as he's adamantly dismissed the idea of running as vice president. "Zero chance, just stop there, zero chance," Kasich said during an interview on Fox Business Network. "I have no interest," he added. "I'm going to be governor of Ohio. There is zero chance I will be anybody's vice presidential candidate — period, end of story."

h/t CNBC & The Hill

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton was caught in a confrontation with young Somali-American woman while campaigning in Minnesota. The woman asked Clinton to comment on her past racial remarks and the lack of diversity among elected officials.

Clinton mentioned Abdi Warsame, the first Somali-American elected to the Minneapolis City Council, but was met by push-back from the woman, who said Warsame lacks authenticity.

"You know what, dear? You have a different opinion," Clinton said. "He is a Somali-American elected to the city council, and I am really proud of that." The woman continued to challenge the former secretary of state, to which Clinton responded: "Well, why don't you go run for something, then?"

h/t The Hill

Trump's son Eric Trump has come out in defence of his father. The GOP frontrunner has been criticised for wavering in denouncing former KKK leader David Duke. He has since disavowed the white supremacist.

The battle lines have been drawn between Trump and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. It began with several tweets from the GOP frontrunner that attacked Haley for her endorsement of rival Rubio and for her apparent change of heart in regards to candidates releasing their tax returns.

Haley responded in perfect Southern style.

Former Republican National Committee chairman Mel Martinez suggested he would prefer voting for Vice President Joe Biden instead of Trump in a theoretical general election match-up.

"I would not vote for Trump, clearly," Martinez told the Wall Street Journal. "If there is any, any, any other choice, a living, breathing person with a pulse, I would be there." However, he noted he would not support Clinton.

Martinez recently endorsed fellow Floridian Marco Rubio.

h/t The Hill

It seems leading GOP candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are eager to have establishment darling Marco Rubio drop out of the race.

In a phone interview with Fox News, frontrunner Trump said: "I think he has to get out. You know, he hasn't won anything, and Ted Cruz very rightly points out, you know, Marco has not won."

Cruz made a similar suggestion to reporters outside of a Houston polling place. "I believe we are going to very very well here in Texas. It's gonna be up to Texans to make their decision. But there is no doubt that any candidate who cannot win his home state has real problems," he said.

He continued: "Any candidate that wakes up tomorrow morning that has not won any states, for any candidate that wakes up tomorrow morning and has won a negligible number of delegates, it's time to start thinking about coming together and unifying and a clear choice."

Rubio has failed to win any states and recent polls show him trailing Trump by double digits in his home state of Florida.

h/t POLITICO & The Guardian

The New York Time's The Upshot has reported that first-in-the-nation primary state New Hampshire messed up its own delegate math when allocating delegates to Republican candidates. Officials reportedly failed to follow New Hampshire law and awarded one of Rubio's delegates to Trump. Trump received 11 delegates when he was supposed to get 10, while Rubio only received 2 delegates when he earned 3.

The Upshot noted:

From their calculations it's clear that the state did not follow the double-rounding procedure required by state law. According to its rules, New Hampshire got its delegate count wrong, shortchanging Mr. Rubio. When we asked David Scanlan, the New Hampshire deputy secretary of state, about the discrepancy, his answer amounted to a big shrug, mentioning only that the state was following the same procedures it had used going back to 2008 and that the law is "open to interpretation."

While the extra delegate wouldn't really matter in Rubio's fight against Trump, it would tie him in second place with Cruz.

r/t The Upshot

Long-shot Republican candidate Ben Carson has picked up his fifth delegate. The retired neurosurgeon, who is now one delegate behind Ohio Governor John Kasich, picked up the new delegate as Nevada finally finished allocating the state's 30 delegates. The GOP candidates' delegate count now stands as follows:

• Donald Trump: 82
• Ted Cruz: 17
• Marco Rubio: 16
• John Kasich: 6
• Ben Carson: 5

h/t The Guardian

Local news in Boston is reporting that many Democratic voters switched over to the Republican Party prior to today's primary. Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin said he predicts a major GOP turnout due to the switch. What that could mean for the Republican candidates remains to be seen.

h/t CBS Boston

USA Today has a handy video guide on their site explaining why Super Tuesday is such a big day in the US Presidential race

They also have some graphs explaining each primary and caucus for the Democrats and Republicans

No real surprise to see that Trump is the leading Republican candidates with regards to Google searches for every state involved today.

Rubio has juts published an open letter to his rival Trump entitled Open Letter from Marco: Donald Trump Is No Joke — He's Dangerous

One of the highlights reads:

The rest of the letter can be read on Rubio's website.

Trump is now speaking in Ohio (see video below at 17:08)

Both Clinton and Sanders would easily beat Trump in hypothetical general election match-ups, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll.

According to CNN, Clinton, would likely face a stronger challenge from Rubio or Ted Cruz and would currently beat Trump 52% to 44% among registered voters.

The full CNN/ORC Poll results can be read here.

Over on FiveThirtyEight, the website run by Nate Silver, who correctly predicted 49 out of the 50 states in the 2008 Presidential Election, there have updated their forecast for who will win each of the states today.

For the Democrats, forecasts range from a "greater than 99%" chance of Clinton winning the Alabama primary to neck and neck between Clinton and Sanders in Oklahoma.

For the Republicans, Trump has a greater than 99% chance of winning in the Massachusetts primary, whereas Cruz is favourite to win Texas at 87%

Donald Trump is due to give his first of two Super Tuesday campaign rallies at the Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio.

US Speaker Paul Ryan - the leader of the Republican Party - has slammed Donald Trump once again for his actions during the race for the Republican nomination.

Ryan - who did not name Trump explicitly - said if any individual wants to be president they "must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry; this party does not play on people's prejudices".

He was referring to Trump's recent evasions on questions about David Duke, a KKK leader who endorsed the former reality TV star.

In the past Ryan has lambasted Trump over his statements on Muslim immigration .

The campaign for John Kasich, the Governor for Ohio, has pointed to Trump's nomination strategy as he campaigns in the Buckeye state (Ohio is not in play today). Kasich, a rank outsider at this point, tweeted an NBC News 5 poll which puts him 17 ahead of Trump if they were running against each other.

Throughout the Republican race so far Trump, has effectively split the Republican ticked - particularly playing of his rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio against each other.

Bill Clinton has been out pressing the flesh on behalf of his wife, Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton in Boston, Massachusetts.

Bernie Sanders received his highest-profile of endorsement of his campaign so far - Politico reports.

Hawaii Representaticve Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation from her post as a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee to back the Vermont senator in his presidential bid.

With voting well under way across all of the Super Tuesday states - polls will close at.

7 pm EST: Georgia, Vermont, Virginia

8 pm EST: Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee

8:30 pm EST: Arkansas

9 pm EST: Texas, Colorado and Minnesota caucuses

Midnight EST: Alaska

Donald Trump - who was in Georgia last night - won the backing of NASCAR drivers and the sporting franchise's CEO Brian France. He's woken up to thank them again ahead of today's vote.

Bernie Sanders has arrived at the polling station in his native Vermont to place his Super Tuesday.

Video emerged last night of one of Trump's Secret Service bodyguards decking Time Magazine photographer Christopher Morris. The altercation took place as Black Lives Matter protesters began chanting and marching during a rally at Radford University, Virginia.

Already hurt by his failure to denounce the KKK and former leader David Duke. Donald Trump was lampooned by comedian John Oliver in his satirical programme Last Week Tonight coming into today's vote.

Oliver, who had previously said he would ignore the Republican frontrunner, called on viewers to eschew the Trump brand and associate the hotel magnate with the name Drumpf . The British born comedian claimed Trump had been changed from Drumpf in the family's history.

"It may seem weird to bring up his ancestral name, but to quote Donald Trump he 'should be proud of his heritage' because Drumpf is much more reflective of who he actually is.

"So if you're thinking of voting for Donald Trump, the charismatic guy promising to make America great again, stop and take a moment to imagine how you would feel if you just met a guy named Donald Drumpf," Oliver said

With polls open for an hour in Virginia and Vermont the first images are starting to emerge of voting.

The only state - out of 11 - that Trump is expected lose is Ted Cruz's home state of Texas. In the lone star state, Cruz has an 11 point lead over the former reality TV Star, Fox 4 reports, 36 percent to 25 percent.

Polls are projecting Donald Trump to win big across the states in play on Super Tuesday. However it hasn't been smooth sailing for the billionaire property tycoon into the primaries.

The Republican frontrunner has been hit by the media and both sides of the political aisle after he failed to disavow the KKK and white supremacist leader David Duke in a bungled TV interview.

Bernie Sanders addressed a rally in Milton Massachusetts last night. The Democratic Socialist Senator trails Hillary Clinton in the delegate race and in the polls despite a massive victory over the former Secretary of State in the New Hampshire Democratic primary.

Democratic US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be hoping her big victory over rival Bernie Sanders on Saturday will propel her into Super Tuesday.

All the candidates were out campaigning last night to whip up support ahead of the vote. Here's Marco Rubio, Republican establishment favourite and Florida governor, greeting supporters after a campaign rally on the eve of Super Tuesday in Oklahoma City

Good Morning and welcome to IBTimes UK's coverage of Super Tuesday. As campaigning starts - here's where we stand:

Polls put the Democratic and and Republican favourites Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ahead to win.

A CNN/ORC poll puts Trump at 49% across the states— 30 percentage points ahead of Marco Rubio. On the Democratic side, Clinton tops Sanders 55% to 38%.