Donald Trump Wins FL, IL, NC; Hillary Clinton Takes FL, OH, NC and IL; John Kasich Wins OH; Marco Rubio Suspends Campaign. Razor-thin wins in MS for Trump, Clinton.

Latest: Following the results, Donald Trump held a press conference — without taking questions from the press. He has decided to skip the next scheduled debate — which has not been canceled.

Initial delegate allocation announced by the Missouri GOP gave Trump 37 and Cruz 15. Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders split Missouri's delegates with 32 each.

After the dust had largely settled — razor-thin margins in Missouri have left open the possibility of a recount in both parties — delegate counts showed what results did: Clinton and Trump keep extending their leads.

He did have one last message "Do not give into the fear."

Rubio ended his speech, the last of a very public campaign, by keeping one gigantic secret: Which of the remaining candidates he would support.

"There's nothing more than you could have done," he told his supporters.

Rubio, who had more than once guaranteed that he would win Florida, was trounced instead.

Trump continued his streak of success, for the most part, losing only in Ohio to the state's governor, John Kasich. He won so convincingly in Florida that that the state's own senator, Marco Rubio, who had once been anointed the future of the Republican Party, ended the night by suspending his campaign.

They called it Super Tuesday 2; some people called it "3." For Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton the number didn't matter. The word "super" was good enough.

Trump held 673 pledged delegates at the end of the night, 263 more than his next closest competitor, Ted Cruz, and more than half of the 1,237 needed to win the nomination.

Clinton had 1,139 pledged delegates to Sanders' 825 along with a superdelegate lead of 467 to 26.

Speaking at his mansion, Mar-a-Lago, in Florida, Donald Trump told supporters: "We have to bring our party together. We have something happening that is actually making the Republican Party the biggest political story in the world."

It was a surprisingly low-key speech from a man who has made a name by speaking with grandiosity about his own penis and has spent months belittling his opponents.

Trump even praised Rubio, saying he ran a tough race.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton may have struck a mathematical knockout blow against her opponent, Sanders.

For Sanders to get enough delegates for the nomination, he would have to win 72 percent of the remaining delegates. He has better odds of getting taller.

She had decisive victories in Ohio and Florida, and with the delegates from those winner-take-all states, she now has roughly a 300-delegate lead over Sanders.

And that is just pledged delegates. The tally does not count the Super Delegates.

"This may be one of the most consequential campaigns of our lifetime," said Clinton, speaking to her supporters, in a voice made raspy from campaigning.

She boasted that her campaign had won more votes than any candidate, Republican or Democrat, in the primary season. She cited what she said were three big challenges facing the next President:

"Can you make positive differences in people's lives? Can you keep people safe? Can you bring our country together again?"

She got her biggest applause with a call for equal pay for equal work for women, and takes a dig at "overpaid corporate executives."

The night was not a total loss for Sanders. He had a strong showing in Missouri.

And while he still has a tough road ahead, it is one that should be a bit more friendly to him than the South has been.

"The electorate looks different when you leave North Carolina," says Martin Kifer, assistant professor of political science and director of the school's Survey Research Center. (Ohio, which Clinton won decisively, looks a lot different, too.)

Jim Moore, from Oregon's Pacific University, agrees that it will be easier for Sanders, but doesn't think it will be enough.

For Sanders to get enough delegates for the nomination, he would have to win 72 percent of the remaining delegates. He has better odds of getting taller.

Clinton will just have to win roughly 58 percent of the remaining delegates.

"Bernie''s in deep trouble," says Moore. There are few places left where he might do well. The liberal enclaves of the East Coast and West Coast will not be nearly enough."

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LIVE UPDATES

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11:00pm EST - Clinton holds narrow lead over Sanders in Illinois

Dennis Robaugh, from Patch's Chicago bureau, reports that turnout was high around Chicago, but not necessarily because of the presidential primaries:

Voter turnout in Chicago was over 50 percent, according to the Chicago Election Board, and 26,000 new voters registered to vote on Primary Day. The surge in voter participation most likely could be attributed to the effort to oust the incumbent Democratic state's attorney, Anita Alvarez, whose handling of police shooting cases has been criticized by activists and community groups. Many of those who registered late also were young voters, and possibly could land in the Bernie Sanders column.

kWe're staying up late; and will update with results as we get them. Currently, with 66% of the vote in, Clinton leads Sanders 51% to 48%.

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10:48pm EST - Ted Cruz pitches Rubio supporters

Ted Cruz, whose name has been mentioned fewer times tonight perhaps than any candidate still in the race, takes the stage before supporters to make a explicit pitch to Rubio supporters.

"For those who supported Marco, for those who worked so hard, we welcome you with open arms," he said.

"The heart of our economy isn't in Washington, D.C.," Cruz said. "The heart of our economy is in small businesses across America."

Cruz promised to repeal Obamacare, abolish the IRS, "reign in the E.P.A.," and to stop amnesty and welfare for "all illegal immigrants."

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10:32pm EST - Trump takes the stage at his mansion, Mar-a-Lago, after wins in FL, IL and NC

Trump speaks to supporters at his Florida home and touts the endorsements of Ben Carson and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

"We have to bring our party together," he said. "We have something happening that is actually making the Republican party the biggest political story in the world."

Trump invoked the Paris attacks as having inspired his campaign. "We need protection in our country, and all of a sudden the poll numbers shot up."

"This country is going to start winning again," he said. "We don't win anymore."

Trump promised to "knock the hell out of Isis," and said the United States was "losing" in trade arrangements with countries from Mexico to China.

Trump decried what he said were $40 million of negative ads. "And my numbers went up," he said.

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9:43pm EST - NBC calls Illinois for Donald Trump, adding to his tally

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9:40pm EST - Making sense of the results so far

Patch's Colin Miner spoke to Jim Moore, professor of politics and government at Oregon's Pacific University, for some mid-evening analysis of what the results so far mean for the race ahead.

"Bernie's in deep trouble," said Moore. "There are few places left where he might do well. Maybe on the left coast and maybe on the East Coast in some of those states."

Moore says Sanders might have a chance in Oregon.

"California also," he adds before changing his mind. "But there are a lot of unions there that really like Clinton and a lot of minorities.

"The liberal enclaves of the East Coast and West Coast all not be nearly enough."

As for Kasich, Moore says Ohio is a good win but enough.

"He won but not by a tremendous amount," Moore said. "And after winning his own state by not that much, where is Kasich?

"On the outside still looking in."

The real winner on the Republican side, Moore says, may not be Trump but Cruz.

"This is beginning to look like ted Cruz firmly establishing himself as the alternative to Trump," says Moore. "If he does well in the proportional states, he will have put himself in pretty good position.

"The question now is where do Rubio's supporters go: Trump or Cruz? I don't think they will go to Kasich without their candidate endorsing him."

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9:22pm EST - Gov. John Kasich speaks to supporters in Ohio

Gov. John Kasich takes the stage before supporters in Ohio who helped deliver his home state. After a brief interruption from a heckler, the governor spoke:

Kasich campaigned on his record as governor, which in reality has not been as positive as he's portrayed but has also been nowhere near as dismal as claimed by Trump, who told campaign rallies in Ohio that their state was a "disaster" an "embarrassment" and "dead."

Kasich highlighted the 400,000 Ohio jobs created under his watch while state income taxes were cut, though wages and income have not kept pace with the nation's, and the reduced state tax burdens were mostly shifted to localities.

Nevertheless, in a state seeing any rebound after decades of losses, mostly in the manufacturing sector, Kasich has been an enormously popular governor.

"To have people believe in you," he told a crowd in Cleveland, pausing to compose himself, "I have to thank the people of the great state of Ohio. I love you."

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9:20pm EST - Kasich strategist assesses the win in Ohio

Patch's Tony Schinella spoke to John Weaver, the chief strategist for the Kasich effort.

He said the win in the Republican governor's home state of Ohio created a "whole new ballgame" which had reset the race.

"Gov. Kasich positive message and proven record can overcome the Donald Trump insult machine," he said. "With the electoral map shifting significantly in our favor, Gov. Kasich is positioned to accumulate a large share of the almost 1,000 remaining delegates and enter Cleveland in strong position to become the nominee."

Weaver said the campaign's internal data was showing Rubio's voters moving to Kaisch by a three-to-one margin. The Florida Senator's decision to end his campaign created a three-person race with no candidate winning the 1,237 delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot – but Kasich accumulating the largest share of the remaining delegates.

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9:01pm - Hillary Clinton takes the stage in West Palm Beach, FL on victorious night

Clinton, her voice raspy from campaigning, takes the podium just after 9pm EST, telling a frenzied crowd:

"This may be one of the most consequential campaigns of our lifetime." She boasted that her campaign had won more votes than any candidate, Republican or Democrat, in the primary season.

She cited what she said were three big challenges facing the next President:

"Can you make positive differences in people's lives? Can you keep people safe? Can you bring our country together again?"

She gets her biggest applause with a call for equal pay for equal work for women, and takes a dig at "overpaid corporate executives."

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8:51pm EST - Kasich Wins his home state of Ohio

Multiple outlets are now calling Ohio for Gov. John Kasich, a result that buoys Sen. Ted Cruz by preventing a sweep for Donald Trump. Ohio stands behind the establishment candidates. Could this mark the high water mark of the populist surge in the 2016 campaign?



Patch's Carly Baldwin asked Kelly Dittmar, an assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University-Camden and also at Rutgers' Eagleton Center for American Women and Politics, for an analysis.

"Kasich won Ohio because he's been very popular both as a member of Congress and governor there. He invested a lot of money in Ohio , whereas Rubio did not invest enough in his home state of Florida," she said. "His overall favorability in Ohio was higher than Rubio's was statewide in Florida. He staked his candidacy on winning there today."

"It's not enough for him to win," Dittmar said. "Numerically, Kasich still can't win the nomination, he won't have enough delegate votes. The only way he's a threat is if he becomes a spoiler -- that is, he prevents Trump from getting enough votes. This does not make Kasich a threat to Trump, it makes him a hurdle."

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8:38pm EST - AP, NBC Call Ohio for Hillary Clinton

The Associated Press and NBC have gone with an early call of Ohio for Hillary Clinton. If the call holds, the victory would mean a historic and dominating day for Clinton. Secretary Clinton is expected to appear at the podium shortly.

BREAKING: Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic primary in Ohio. @AP race call at 8:38 p.m. EST. #Election2016 #APracecall — AP Politics (@AP_Politics) March 16, 2016

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8:36pm EST - NBC calls North Carolina for Hillary Clinton

Patch's Greg Hambrick has the results from North Carolina, where Hillary Clinton wins, as expected.

Sanders won among white voters, according to CNN, with 51 percent of the vote. But Clinton had far more support among African-Americans (81 percent), continuing a trend in the South. But a better demographic map awaits Sanders as the race moves West. "The electorate looks different when you leave North Carolina," says Martin Kifer, assistant professor of political science and director of the school's Survey Research Center.

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8:28pm EST - Meanwhile, Donald Trump Takes to Twitter

While Sen. Marco Rubio was speaking passionately to supporters about freedom, God and optimism, Donald Trump took to his favorite medium, the Twitter Box, to insult Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, with whom he has been fixated for months. Trump, rising to the occasion, (though we do agree with his fondness of local news...)

Watching other networks and local news. Really good night! Crazy @megynkelly is unwatchable. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2016

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8:14pm EST - Sen. Marco Rubio Bows Out of the Republican Primary

Speaking to frustrated supporters in Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out of the Republican primary and decried the atmosphere that led to his defeat.

"America is in the middle of a real political storm, a real political tsunami," he said. "And we should have seen it coming."

Rubio, who was briefly interrupted by a heckler, told his supporters: "There's nothing more than you could have done."

Rubio said Americans were angry, and traced that anger back to the economic crisis of 2008, and an economy, he said, in which people were losing their jobs to machines and in which wages were stagnant. He exhorted Conservatives to rebuild their movement, not on fear, but on a more optimistic vision.

"While this may not have been the year for a hopeful and optimistic message about our future, I remain hopeful and optimistic about America," Rubio said.

"Do not give into the fear."

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8:00pm EST - Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Win Big Florida; Brutal Defeat for Rubio

CNN and NBC have called Florida for Trump and Clinton. The news is a big blow to the hopes of Sen. Marco Rubio, who loses his home state to a man who routinely and brutally mocked him as "Little Marco."

Clinton had been favored to win Florida all along, so no surprise there. Early word from the Clinton camp to reporters traveling with her is that she may move up her appearance from 9pm to sometime just after 8:30pm.



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7:56pm EST

An ominous tweet from Rubio supporters in North Carolina:

A lot of folks worked really hard here in NC. I'm sorry the race developed the way it did & we didn't do better. Be kind & pray for us. — NC for Rubio (@TeamMarcoNC) March 15, 2016

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7:46pm EST - Trump, Clinton with Early Leads in North Carolina, Florida

The counting is just underway in North Carolina and Florida, but in the early numbers, Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton have small but significant early leads.

From Sherri in Florida:

With 208 of its 299 precincts reporting in, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are leading their respective primaries in Florida's Pinellas County by a landslide.

As of 7:35 p.m., Trump had 46.26 percent of the Pinellas Republican vote. Sen. Marco Rubio was a distant second at 22.68 percent.

In the Democratic race, Clinton led by 61.8 percent of the vote to Sen. Bernie Sanders 36.02 percent.

Results so far are similar in the pivotal counties of Brevard and Hillsborough.

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7:31pm EST - First Poll Closings: North Carolina and Ohio

Polls are closed now in North Carolina and Ohio.

Polls have shown Hillary Clinton leading in North Carolina. But in Ohio, the phenomenon of Democratic crossover voters — voters who are casting ballots in the Republican primary in an effort to impact that race — could add an unpredictable element to the outcome, because efforts to hurt Donald Trump may end up also taking down Hillary Clinton.

In recent days there have been increased calls for Democrats to crossover and vote for Governor John Kasich, which is legal in many cases in Ohio.

"You go to that part of the country and these things happen," Jim Moore, professor of politics and government at Oregon's Pacific University, told Patch's Colin Miner. "People crossover and there is damage," he said.

Moore said that between the call from Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, and others to help Kasich in his home state, it's hard to know what exactly is driving the crossover.

"People are organized," he said. "It's just not clear who is doing the organizing."

Early exit polls from CNN show the effort might be working.

Just after 7:30 EDT, the cable station had Kasich up by almost double digits and Hillary Clinton holding a narrow lead.

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7:30pm EST





Multiple reports now out of Sangamon County, Illinois (county seat: Springfield) suggest that polls will be open for as much as 90 minutes, because of "historic turnout."

Sangamon Co. Clerk Don Gray says he's looking into extending voting hours after 10 precincts run out of ballots. https://t.co/U9CERqrQH5 — StateJournalRegister (@SJRbreaking) March 15, 2016

The racial makeup of the county was 84% white, 12% black or African American, 1% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.5% from other races, and 2.2% from two or more races. Eight of 9 county office holders in Sanganon are Republicans.

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6:52pm EST - Tampa Turnout High Among Republicans



More from Patch's Sherri Lonon in Florida.

She reports that voter turnout in Florida's Hillsborough County, which includes the city of Tampa, was estimated at 41.75 percent by Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Republican turnout was much heavier in the county at 50.37 percent to a 34.71 percent turnout from Democrats.

Those figures include vote by mail, early voting and election day turnout combined, according to Latimer's website. Voter turnout in the 2012 Presidential Preference Primary in Hillsborough County was 39.08 percent, according to county documents.

Hillsborough County has a total of 789,921 registered voters, according to the Supervisor of Elections Office. Of that number, 309,261 are Democrats and 252,589 are Republicans.

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6:40pm EST - Best read of the day - from the NYT





So you've got 20 minutes before the first polls close, plenty of time to read Jason Horowitz's fantastic piece in The New York Times about Donald Trump's butler at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The butler, Anthony Senecal, has been at the estate for 60 years, 30 of them with Trump. (He now serves as a butler emeritus, a modern-day version of the role Mr. Carson strode off to in the final episode of Downton. Horowitz learns how Trump likes his steak cooked (very well-done), and how he signals his mood to the staff with the color of his hat, and a host of other juicy details about a life few Americans could imagine living.

Read the full piece here.

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5:43pm EST - Donald Trump's name IS on Florida ballots

Patch's Sherri Lonon reports from Florida that the Secretary of State there is working to squelch rumors that Donald J. Trump's name is not on all ballots.

After Trump himself tweeted that his supporters were reporting that they couldn't find his name on ballots, Secretary of State Ken Detzner Sunshine State issued a tweet of his own.

Would like to assure all FL voters that ballots for the PPP included all candidate names certified by me on Dec. 15: https://t.co/qWhgsYwPUt — Ken Detzner (@KenDetzner) March 15, 2016

The official Republican ballot certification for Tuesday, March 15's primary includes a long slate of Republican candidates, many of which have dropped out, Patch's Lonon reports. Names on the Republican ballot in the Sunshine State are Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, John R. Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum … and Donald J. Trump. Only Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich remain actively in the race.

Florida Democrats should see three names on their ballots: Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders.

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5:17pm EST

We're a little over two hours from the first poll closings and the first inklings on how the evening will turn out. Here's a quick rundown of poll closings and when you can expect to get live results.

Florida: 7pm EST, except for 10 counties, which close polls at 8pm

North Carolina 7:30pm EST

Ohio: 7:30pm EST

Illinois: 8pm EST (7pm local time)

Missouri: 8pm EST (7pm local time)

The Washington Post reports that turnout is high in Missouri, Ohio and the Chicago suburbs.

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Update 3:38 pm EST

A headline we did not expect to see today: Cleveland Poll Worker Pulls Out Gun at Polling Station.

A 45-year-old man at an elementary school polling station pulled out the gun and made verbal threats, police said, before he was arrested. Read the full story here.

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Update 3:17 pm:

Donald Trump already has one win under his belt on this Super-er-er Tuesday.

Trump won all nine delegates in the caucuses for the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. Trump won 72.8 percent of the vote to took home all nine delegates.

Some trivia for you: The win was his eighth in which he won the majority of delegates for a state. That makes him the first Republican candidate to be technically eligible for the GOP nomination.

The more you know.

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The real Super Tuesday is upon us. Voters are taking to the polls in five states for what could be a decisive day in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Here's what to watch for:

The day is a crucial one for Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. John Kasich, both of whom need victories in their home states of Florida and Ohio respectively, where the winners will take all the delegates.

Trump is favored to win all but Ohio; a sweep would almost certainly ensure he is the nominee.

If Kasich wins Ohio and Rubio takes Florida, the Republican race could become more tumultuous, and the odds of a potentially chaos-inducing brokered convention will increase.

Hillary Clinton currently holds a 767-553 leads in delegates over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but a more formidable 467-26 lead in Super Delegates, and is favored in North Carolina and Florida.

If Sanders were to win Illinois, Missouri and Ohio, he would greatly narrow the delegate spread and ensure that the Democratic race extend potentially into June.

Perhaps more than any other day in the primary process, today will determine whether the establishment of both parties can fend off insurgent campaigns born of deep frustration with entrenched political parties many voters see as presiding over a rigged game. Perhaps no state more than Ohio -- long the bellwether in American Presidential politics -- will signal the strength or weakness of the populist, though very different, campaigns of Donald J. Trump and Bernie Sanders, whose candidacies both seemed like larks a few months ago.

Jim Moore, professor of politics and government at Pacific University in Oregon, where he is the director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation, says there are two keys to watching results today: Ohio and Florida and the rest of the states.

"Florida and Ohio are key to figuring out if Kasich and Rubio will survive," he told Patch. "But the real story is going to be, does Cruz do well enough to establish himself as the clear alternative to Trump."

Moore says that while Florida and Ohio are getting mot of the attention, the other states - where delegates are handed out proportionately - are more significant in the overall race.

"If Cruz can run 50-50 with Trump, he will emerge from this as the clear alternative," Moore says. "For Rubio and Trump, today is just about whether they survive to fight another day."