Trump wins three out of four on Tuesday

SEE UPDATES UNDER EACH STATE SECTION BELOW

UPDATE (8:10 a.m.): With Donald Trump’s win in Hawaii, the Republican presidential front-runner boosted his delegate count to 458, picking up 71 in Tuesday’s contests. Ted Cruz won 56 yesterday and has 359 delegates. Marco Rubio picked up no delegates on Tuesday and remains third overall with 151 delegates. John Kasich captured 17 delegates for his third-place finish in Michigan and now has 54. The eventual winner will need at least 1,237 delegates to secure the GOP nomination.

The focus now is on Florida, with its 99 delegates, and Ohio, with 66. Both states, which hold primaries next Tuesday, are winner-take-all and could dramatically change the state of the race.

UPDATE (12:30 a.m.): The conservative establishment’s hopes for slowing Donald Trump’s momentum looked poised to take a beating Tuesday as the billionaire businessman surged to two early wins in Mississippi and Michigan.

“Every single person who has attacked me has gone down,” Trump gloated during a rally at one of his Florida resorts.

But despite his early strong showing, Trump couldn’t bring home a win in Idaho, where Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won a decisive-enough victory to take a little wind out of his blustery rival’s sails. When the Associated Press called the race, with about half of precincts counted, Cruz was ahead with 42.4 percent to Trump’s 29 percent of the vote.

Ever since his wins in last week’s Super Tuesday trouncing, Trump has called for the other two Republican candidates—Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio—to get out of the race to make room for a two-man showdown with Cruz, who claims to be the only one who can mount a serious challenge to Trump. With tonight’s speech, Trump pointed to November and the nationwide election, when he said Republicans should be focused on getting their fellow party members re-elected to the House and Senate. Trump has repeatedly said he stands the best chance to beat Hillary Clinton in the national presidential contest.

But Trump’s rivals are not backing down. At a rally in Sarasota, Fla., Rubio said he’s looking forward to next week’s primary in his home state, despite his disappointing losses Tuesday.

“It has to happen here, and it has to happen now,” he said.

Florida and other upcoming primaries are winner-take-all contests, which could drastically change the delegate count. Rubio and Kasich hope to win their respective states, victories that could keep the GOP race divided among the four remaining candidates.

Campaigning in North Carolina before his victory Tuesday night, Cruz criticized Trump for calling on his supporters to pledge allegiance to him. America isn’t a monarchy, Cruz noted.

“I’m not here asking any of you to pledge your support of me,” he said, to thunderous applause and cheers. “I’m pledging my support of you.”

Democratic contenders Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., split their two Tuesday contests. While the former secretary of state owned Mississippi, winning with a 66.9 percent margin, Sanders squeaked out a victory in Michigan. Both candidates fought hard for the industrial heartland, professing appreciation for the auto industry and clashing over the benefits and detriments of foreign trade deals. In a statement, Sanders suggested it was time analysts started taking him more seriously.

“We already have won in the Midwest, New England, and the Great Plains, and as more people get to know more about who we are and what our views are, we're going to do very well,” he said in a statement.

But Clinton maintains a substantial lead in the delegate count, thanks to superdelegates who can vote for either candidate regardless of primary wins and loses. Clinton has 1,214 delegates to Sanders’ 566. Democrats need 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (3:45 p.m.): Sen. Ted Cruz is just one really strong Tuesday night away from erasing Donald Trump’s delegate lead in the GOP presidential race. Primaries and caucuses in Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, and Mississippi today will determine who gets 150 more delegates at this summer’s Republican National Convention. Before today, Trump had 184 more delegates than Cruz; a week from today, more than 350 delegates are up for grabs in five states, including Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio’s home state.

With most states handing out their delegates proportionally, an all-Cruz delegate sweep probably won’t happen. But that didn’t stop Cruz from promising voters he is the only candidate who can take down Trump. He urged all non-Trump supporters (also known as those who support Rubio), to consolidate behind him.

Both Rubio and Cruz tried to leverage the support of former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who voiced his criticism of Trump last week. Cruz said he’d spoke with Romney by phone, and Rubio sent out an automated phone call with audio of Romney urging Republicans not to vote for Trump.

For his part, Trump spent the last few days of his campaign scoffing at comparisons of a gesture he and voters have made at campaign rallies to the Nazi salute. He said the way in which he and supporters raise their right hands is just for fun and is supposed to model the way the president of the United States raises his right hand when being sworn into office.

Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., both campaigned in Michigan on Monday, each trying to prove their faithfulness to the auto industry. Meanwhile, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed Monday he would not run for president as a third-party candidate, saying he thought he didn’t have much chance at winning.

Visit WORLD’s Election Center ’16 to see interactive maps of each state and track the vote totals as they come in.

Hawaii Republican caucuses

Trump wins big in Hawaii

March 9, 8:10 a.m. EST—Donald Trump won the Hawaii Republican primary overnight, taking the state with 42.4 percent of the vote. Ted Cruz came in second with 32.7 percent of the vote. Marco Rubio netted 13.1 percent, and John Kasich captured 10.6 percent.

Idaho Republican primary

Cruz takes only victory of the night with decisive victory over Trump

12:20 a.m. EST—Ted Cruz has won Idaho’s Republican primary. With nearly half of precincts reporting, the senator from Texas netted 42.4 percent of the vote. Donald Trump claimed 29 percent. Marco Rubio came in a distant third, with 17.6 percent, while John Kasich garnered 7.3 percent.

Idaho will send 32 delegates to the Republican convention this summer.

Michigan primary

Trump nets second victory of the night; Sanders wins squeaker against Clinton

11:40 p.m. EST—By a thin margin, Bernie Sanders has won the Michigan Democratic primary, besting Hillary Clinton with a 2 percent margin. With 90 percent of ballots counted, Sanders had 50 percent of the vote, to Clinton’s 48 percent. Sanders’ victory splits Tuesday’s contests between the two candidates, giving the senator from Vermont an added push heading into the next primaries.

9:25 p.m. EST—The Associated Press has called the Michigan Republican primary for Donald Trump, with 25 percent of precincts reporting. Trump so far has 38 percent of the votes, with John Kasich netting 25.9 percent. Ted Cruz follows close behind with 22.5 percent, but Marco Rubio is a distant fourth with just 9 percent.

The win in Michigan gives Trump a victory in two of tonight’s four contests, bolstering his claim that his ultimate primary triumph is only a matter of time. Michigan will send 59 delegates to the Republican convention this summer.

Michigan’s Democratic primary remains too close to call. The Democrats have 147 delegates from Michigan.

Mississippi primary

Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump declared early victors in Super Tuesday repeat

11:25 p.m. EST—As the night wore on, Trump’s lead in Mississippi diminished somewhat, although he still maintained an 11.7 percent margin over his closest rival, taking 47.9 percent of the vote with 88 percent of precincts reporting. Cruz maintained second place, with 36.2 percent. Kasich netted 8.5 percent, and Rubio claimed 5 percent.

Hillary Clinton won the state in a landslide, as expected, maintaining a 66.9 percent margin over Bernie Sanders, who claimed just 16 percent of the vote.

8:55 p.m. EST—With less than 1 percent of precincts reporting, the Associated Press has called the Mississippi Republican primary for Donald Trump, who leads his rivals with 52.9 percent of the vote. Ted Cruz currently holds second place, with 38.5 percent of the vote. John Kasich has 5 percent, and Marco Rubio trails the pack with 1.5 percent.

Trump’s win somewhat dampened hopes among Cruz supporters that he would close the gap between them and give credence to analysts who said going into tonight's contest that the race was far from over.

8:05 p.m. EST—As soon as the polls closed, Hillary Clinton was declared the winner of the Mississippi Democratic primary. It is the 12th state she has taken in her bid to win her party’s nomination for president. But Mississippi is not a winner-take-all state, so Clinton likely will have to share some of the Democrats’ 41 delegates with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Results in the Republican primary have not been released. Republicans are vying for 40 delegates to their convention.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.