Donald Trump scored victories on Tuesday in three states, including the big-prize Florida, but lost Ohio to the state’s governor, John Kasich, as the billionaire continued to move ahead in his stunning campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Hillary Clinton won at least four states, dealing a severe blow to Bernie Sanders’ bid to slow her march toward the Democratic nomination.
Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who staked his once-promising campaign on winning in his home state, dropped out of the presidential race shortly after the polls closed.
That leaves Kasich as the last true establishment candidate running against Trump and arch conservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Trump, the brash and controversial reality TV star, has upended Republican politics by winning most of the state-by-state competitions for delegates who will choose the party’s nominee.
He has seized on Americans’ anger with Washington politicians, discomfort with immigration and fears of terrorism, attracting voters with his blunt talk and simply worded promise to make America great again.
Tuesday’s votes in five states had been viewed as a pivotal moment in the Republican presidential campaign.
For the first time, two states — Ohio and Florida — had winner-take-all contests.
A Trump sweep could have given him an insurmountable lead in the delegate count.
Trump won the biggest prize — all 99 Florida delegates — as well as winning North Carolina and Illinois, and was locked in a tight race with Cruz in Missouri.
“This was an amazing night,” he told a victory rally in Florida.
Rubio bowed out, saying: “While it is not God’s plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever, and while today my campaign is suspended, the fact that I’ve even come this far is evidence of how special America truly is.”
Kasich openly called for a contested convention and vowed to campaign on.
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