Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Both candidates are vowing to have a unifying influence

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have each won the most states on the biggest day of the race for the US presidential nominations.

Mr Trump won seven states while his closest rival, Ted Cruz, took three. The third-placed Republican, Marco Rubio, came in with one.

Speaking in his home state of Texas, Mr Cruz urged other Republicans to quit the race and join him against Mr Trump.

Democrat Bernie Sanders had wins in four states.

Super Tuesday saw 11 states voting, from Massachusetts in the east to Alaska in the north-west. A 12th state, Colorado, held a caucus - won by Mr Sanders - but does not actually select its delegates until April.

Tuesday allocates nearly a quarter of Republican delegates, and about a fifth of Democratic delegates, who will elect their respective presidential candidates at party conventions in July. No candidate has yet won enough delegates to secure their party's nomination.

Favourites

Mrs Clinton, a former secretary of state, and Mr Trump, a property tycoon, entered Super Tuesday as favourites to win the vast majority of states for their respective parties.

The Democratic frontrunner won in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Texas and Massachusetts, polling well among blocs of black voters.

Delivering her victory speech from Miami, having moved her campaign to Florida for the primary there on 15 March, in common with other candidates, she appeared to already be looking towards a potential presidential race against Mr Trump.

"The stakes in this election have never been higher and the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been lower," she said.

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Results in full

Donald Trump won the Republican primaries in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas and Vermont.

The billionaire insisted he had "expanded the Republican party", referring to higher turnout from a broad demographic in states that have already voted.

He described himself as a "unifier" who could put internal fighting in the Republican party behind him and told reporters in Florida: "Once we get all this finished, I'm going after one person - Hillary Clinton."

Super Tuesday states won:

Donald Trump (Republican): Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Vermont

(Republican): Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Vermont Ted Cruz (Republican): Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska

(Republican): Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska Marco Rubio (Republican): Minnesota

(Republican): Minnesota Hillary Clinton (Democrat): Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, Massachusetts, and the South Pacific territory of American Samoa

(Democrat): Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, Massachusetts, and the South Pacific territory of American Samoa Bernie Sanders (Democrat): Vermont, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Colorado

Results in full

Mr Trump, a former reality TV star known for his controversial policies on immigration, has stunned the Republican establishment to become the party's front-runner.

He faced heavy criticism this week over his failure to disavow David Duke, a white supremacist who once led the Ku Klux Klan, who endorsed him. He later said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed Mr Duke.

Victory in Alaska handed Texas Senator Ted Cruz his third state of the night, after his home state and Oklahoma.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Ted Cruz tells supporters he is the only US Republican who can defeat Donald Trump

"Our campaign is the only campaign that has beaten, that can beat and that will beat Donald Trump,'' he told supporters at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, Texas.

Having managed to win only in Minnesota, Marco Rubio will need to shine in Florida, his home state, if he hopes to present a serious challenge to others.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mrs Clinton is fighting her second primary season having lost to Barack Obama in 2008

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Donald Trump has pitched himself to Republicans as a can-do businessman

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Marco Rubio, seen here playing with a cut-out of his own face, has the support of senior Republicans like Senator Bob Dole

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Ted Cruz badly needed the win in his home state to stay in the race

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Bernie Sanders has vowed to to fight "every one" of the remaining contests with Mrs Clinton

Analysis: Jon Sopel, BBC North America editor, Florida

Image copyright Reuters

This was a strikingly different Donald Trump who met reporters on Tuesday night. His tone was conciliatory. He was quietly spoken. He said he would be a unifier - of the Republican Party, of the nation. He didn't crow and he didn't claim to be the nominee, but he clearly thinks the primary race is effectively over.

This was a man not looking to the next primary, the next bit of slog along that long and exhausting road. This was a man with an eye on the much bigger fight in November, and his presumptive opponent Hillary Clinton.

He graciously congratulated Ted Cruz over his wins in Texas and Oklahoma. No mention last night of him being the biggest liar he's ever met. And no demeaning of Marco Rubio either. Were it not for the unmistakable blond hair and the family members at his side, you might have been forgiven for thinking an imposter had entered the room.

It was Donald 2.0 that we had with us. The trouble, though, when you upload a new operating system (OS) is there are inevitable bugs and glitches. And the new OS takes a bit of getting used to.

And there will be many who say what brought me to the product was the original software. So can and will the new magnanimous Donald be able to keep up this new modus operandi, and will his army of fans like what they see?

Anthony Zurcher: Super Tuesday's winners and losers

Bernie Sanders, a self-styled democratic socialist with a following among young people and liberals, won in his home state Vermont as well as Minnesota and Oklahoma.

Addressing cheering supporters in Vermont, Mr Sanders declared, "We are not going to let the Donald Trumps of the world divide us."

The proportion of votes won equates to the number of delegates who will then go on to the Democratic and Republican parties' national conventions in July to officially choose the nominees for the presidency.

The election itself, on 8 November, will see America vote for a successor to Barack Obama, a Democratic president standing down after two terms in office which have seen the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress.

What's so super about Super Tuesday?

Election countdown - selected dates

Image copyright AFP

5 March - The next round sees contests in five states: Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska

15 March - Primaries in five states including Florida (345 delegates), home state of Marco Rubio

19 April - New York (386 delegates)

7 June - California (718 delegates)

14 June - Final primary of the season, a Democratic contest in the District of Columbia

18-21 July - Republican convention, nominee picked

25-28 July - Democratic convention, nominee picked

8 November - US presidential election

In depth: Primary calendar