The victor of the final two will be announced on 9 September.
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Whoever wins will become only the second female Prime Minister in the UK’s history after Margaret Thatcher.
She said: ‘I am delighted to have won so much support from my colleagues.
Under contest rules, Gove is now eliminated, while May and Leadsom will face one another in a vote of the 150,000 party members.
“Those are the things that my colleagues have voted in such numbers for today and I’m confident that those are the things that will win the support of members across the county and of the whole country”.
The two candidates were on opposing sides ahead of the European Union referendum, with Mrs May – like Ms Davidson – backing Remain, while Mrs Leadsom was a prominent figure in the victorious Leave campaign.
Although a long-standing euroskeptic and hard-liner on immigration, May declared herself officially in favor of Britain staying in the European Union – but kept a low profile during the divisive campaign.
Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom are to battle it out for the job of Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, as Michael Gove is knocked out of the Tory leadership race.
Just 46 votes were cast in his favour in the second round ballot among MPs at Westminster yesterday, while 84 backed Mrs Leadsom the energy minister.
May is now appointed as the Home Secretary and has been a Conservative MP since 1997.
Mrs May, whose constituency covers Sonning, Wargrave, Charvil, Twyford and Hurst, picked up more than her rivals, Andrea Leadsom and Michael Gove, put together.
It had led May to urge her supporters to not vote tactically as she once again called for a “proper contest”.
But Ms Davidson said: “I think it has got to be someone who can unite both the country and the party, and I think Theresa May is the only one who can do that”. Earlier on in the week Dr Liam Fox was also eliminated and Work and Pensions Secretary, Stephen Crabb dropped out after failing to gather enough support in Parliament.
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But her victory is not guaranteed – tactical voting among Conservative lawmakers may skew the result. She became the first female chair of the Conservative Party in 2002.
