Donald
Trump romped through the second biggest day in American politics – only
November presidential elections are grander – etching his name on seven
trophies in the Republican party's Super Tuesday display case, and
hoping for more.
Two prizes, Texas and Oklahoma, have eluded his grasp and went to Ted Cruz, a senator from the Lone Star State.
And Marco Rubio claimed Minnesota's caucuses late into the night.
But the rest of the night so far belongs to The Donald.
The
billionaire real estate tycoon has been declared the GOP primary winner
in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and
Virginia.
In
Alaska, the only state left to announce its results, Trump and Cruz
were almost neck and neck at 2am on Wednesday, with the real estate
mogul just ahead with around 34 per cent while his rival has 33 per
cent. Rubio is trailing behind with just 16 per cent.
Cruz
held on to claim Texas on the strength of an almost single-minded
campaign strategy that ceded other southern territories to Trump.
Partly as a result, the GOP front-runner's early victories set a blowout pace.
The
tea party senator later added Oklahoma to his column in an unexpected
development: Trump had out-polled him there a week ago by a dozen
percentage points.
SCROLL DOWN FOR STATE BY STATE RESULTS
Victory: The
billionaire real estate tycoon, pictured with his son Eric Trump (right)
and Gov. Christie, (left), has been declared the GOP primary winner in
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and
Virginia on Super Tuesday
Ally: The Donald was accompanied at
his victory speech by Chris Christie, who looked awkward standing behind
his ally as he spoke. Trump lost out in three states - Oklahoma and
Texas went to Ted Cruz while Marco Rubio won Minnesota
Surprise victory: Ted Cruz scored an
upset win in Oklahoma, where polling had put him far behind Trump. He
also won in his home state of Texas. Cruz told supporters that he is the
only candidate who has a chan
Bragging
rights will go to the senator in the year's first 'closed' GOP primary,
where voters were required to register as Republicans weeks earlier,
could go either way.
But the front-runner Trump broke Cruz's serve in return, winning in Arkansas despite trailing there in recent polls.
Eleven
states in all hosted Republican presidential primaries or caucuses on
Tuesday, and pre-election polling showed Trump with solid leads in eight
of the contests.
The
results will determine how many delegates who are 'bound' to each
candidate will attend this year's Republican National Convention in
Cleveland, Ohio.
The
Associated Press declared Trump the victor in Georgia – the first
decision of the night – almost immediately after polls closed at 7:00
p.m.
With
77.2 per cent of the votes counted in the Peach State, The Donald had a
40-24 lead over Cruz, his nearest competitor. Rubio was just a hair's
breadth further back.
By
8:00 p.m. the former reality TV star had punched his nomination ticket
in three more states just minutes after their polling places closed for
the day.
Virginia jumped into Trump's win column at around 8:45 p.m. Arkansas came at 10:25.
But Cruz's two victories establish that Trump's brand of populism hasn't yet penetrated fully into cowboy country.
In a Super Tuesday speech, Trump congratulated Cruz on his Texas win but took a swipe at Rubio.
'I
know it was a very tough night for Marco Rubio. he had a tough night,'
Trump told a packed room of journalists and well-wishers at his
Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
'He is a lightweight as I've said many times before.'
The result in Alaska has not yet been called. Trump and Cruz are neck and neck
He
blasted the first-term senator who is 25 years his junior, saying that
the decision to go negative in the past week doomed his chances.
'I always liked Marco until about a week ago when he decided to go hostile,' Trump said as chuckles filled the room.
'He decided to become Don Rickles, okay? But Don Rickles has a lot more talent.'
'At
least you could say that Ted Cruz has won something,' he boomed from a
gilded posium set up on a small stage in front of a row of American
flags.
'He hasn't won anything. And he actually hasn't come very close.'
Rubio would be named the victor in Minnesota an hour later.
After
tonight's significant win, Trump told DailyMail.com during a press
conference that his string of triumphs will make it difficult for
Republican Party insiders to argue that he shouldn't be their
standard-bearer.
'I have millions and millions of people,' he said, describing the army of peasants wielding political pitchforks on his behalf.
And
as a result, he claimed, 'the Republicans have tremendous energy. The
Democrats don't. ... Their numbers are down. Our numbers are through the
roof.'
'We
could win nine states today,' Trump mused. 'If I'm going to win all of
these states with tremendous numbers, and if I'm going to come in, the
worst is second, in the two or three that I might not win, I think, you
know, we're a democracy.'
'I think it's awfully hard to say that's not the person we want to lead the party.'
He spoke too soon, it turned out, as he placed third in Minnesota – the one state Rubio carried.
Trump also warned that when Super Tuesday is over, 'I'm going to go after one person: Hillary Clinton.'
He
pegged much of his support to a nationwide financial crisis that's
unfolding at the level of individual households, and said Clinton's own
victory speech after her string of Democratic primary victories shows
that she 'doesn't have a clue' how to reverse it.
'In her speech she just said, "They're making less money",' Trump observed.
'Well, she's been there with Obama for a long period of time. Why hasn't she done anything about it?'
And
her record at the helm of President Obama's state department was
'abysmal,' he charged, in a likely test balloon of general election
messaging.
'You look at what's going on with Syria. You look at what's going on with everything. It's a disaster!'
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