US Election 2016: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump win more States

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.

The count is still on but Mr Trump has so far won seven states, compared with only two taken by his closest rival, Ted Cruz, and one by Marco Rubio.

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

 

Donald Trump-Republican

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.

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.

 

Bernie Sander-Democrat

In a victory speech, Mrs Clinton appeared to already be looking towards a potential presidential race against Mr Trump, saying: "The stakes in this election have never been higher and the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been lower."

Donald Trump insisted that he was a "unifier" who could put internal fighting in the Republican party behind him.

 

Hillary Climton-Democrats

"Once we get all this finished, I'm going after one person - Hillary Clinton," he told reporters in Florida, where he has been campaigning ahead of the state's vote later this month.

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

 

Ted Cruz-Republican

Super Tuesday states won so far:

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

Ted Cruz (Republican): Texas, Oklahoma

Marco Rubio (Republican): Minnesota

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

Bernie Sanders (Democrat): Vermont, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Colorado

Total result as at March 2, 2016 

Democrat Result

Republican Result

Marco Rubio-Republican

Texas Senator Ted Cruz desperately needed to win in his home state to have any chance of staying in the race.

Pointing to his three primary wins against Mr Trump to date in the season, he told Republicans: "I ask you to prayerfully consider our coming together, united."

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 has faced heavy criticism this week over his failure to disavow David Duke, a leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who endorsed him.

The front-runner later said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed Mr Duke.

Mrs Clinton had already secured three wins in the first four early voting states, polling significantly among blocs of black voters.

But Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has put up an unexpectedly strong challenge against her since his sweeping victory in New Hampshire last month.