Hillary, Trump win 7 states each on Super Tuesday

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton moved closer to winning their parties’ nominations with a series of victories in the Super Tuesday elections, the biggest day of the primary campaign.

Clinton and Trump each won seven of 11 state races as they distanced themselves from party rivals and looked ahead to a November presidential election showdown.

Clinton’s opponent, Bernie Sanders, won the Oklahoma primary and caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado, as well as the primary in his home state of Vermont, but he failed to broaden his appeal with minority voters who are crucial to the party in presidential elections.

In the Republican race, Ted Cruz, a firebrand conservative senator, won his home state of Texas and Oklahoma and Marco Rubio, a favorite of the Republican establishment, won in Minnesota for his first victory.

Both are seeking to break out as Trump’s main rival.

Cruz desperately needed the Texas win in order to stay in the race. Still, Trump’s wins in the South were a blow to Cruz, who once saw the region as his opportunity to put himself on a path to the nomination.

Instead, he’s watched Trump, a brash New York real estate mogul, display surprising strength with the region’s evangelical Christians and social conservatives.

Rubio’s win in Minnesota gave him a boost on an otherwise disappointing night.

His long—shot hopes now rest with his home state, Florida, which votes on March 15, but polls show him trailing Trump there.

Trump won in Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Georgia. The race in Alaska has not been called.

Trump has stunned the Republican political establishment by emerging as the clear front—runner, winning three of the four contests preceding Super Tuesday.

He has seized on the anxieties of voters angry at Washington and worried about terrorism, immigration and an uncertain economy.

Using simple terms, and often coarse language, he has soared to the top of polls with his pledge to “make America great again.”

Clinton, once seen as the all-but-inevitable Democratic nominee, has contended with an unexpectedly strong challenge from Sanders, a senator and self-described democratic socialist.

But Clinton, like Trump, had also won three of the first four races.