Clinton won Saturday’s contest in Louisiana. Republicans in three other states, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii, also will vote on Tuesday.
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Trump made waves when he cancelled a scheduled Saturday appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, opting instead to hold a rally in Wichita, Kansas.
Primaries and caucuses are underway Saturday for the Republican presidential candidates in Kansas, Kentucky, Maine and Louisiana.
Trump, 69, has a substantial lead in the delegates needed to secure the nomination at the Republican National Convention, but since winning seven of the 11 contests on Super Tuesday he has come under withering fire from a Republican establishment anxious he will lead the party to defeat in November’s election.
So did Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who’s been trying – with markedly limited success – to set himself up as the man to unify the party by both upholding conservative ideals and drawing newcomers to the GOP.
“I think it’s time now for him to drop out of the race”, Trump said in West Palm Beach, Florida, before supporters.
Curtis Ayotte, former chairman of the Kennebec County Republican Party, directs an overflow crowd waiting to get in to cast their votes at a Republican caucus in Maine.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, called Trump a phony and a fraud who was playing American voters for suckers, and 2008 nominee John McCain, the US senator from Arizona, said Trump’s foreign policy views were uninformed and unsafe. But Trump won Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee and SC in addition to Louisiana. Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders won in two states, and his rival Hillary Clinton won in one.
Mrs Clinton, who has been doing well with African-American voters, had an easy win in Louisiana.
Republicans and Democrats in Kansas, Republicans in ME and Democrats in Nebraska snubbed the front-runners Saturday on a heartening night for Ted Cruz in the GOP contest and Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race.
Stacey Miller, holds an America flag, protesting a Donald Trump a campaign rally, Saturday, March 5, 2016, in Orlando, Fla.
“What it represents is Republicans coalescing, saying it would be a disaster for Donald Trump to be our nominee”, he said.
The races were open only to registered Republicans, but not the independent and disaffected Democratic voters who have helped Trump to be the front-runner candidate.
“It’s my opportunity to revolt”, said Betty Nixon, a 60-year-old Trump voter in Olathe, Kansas.
“After we win the Florida primary, the map, the momentum and the money is going to be on our side”, spokesman Alex Conant said in a statement. Vermonter Sanders, trailing far behind Clinton in the delegate count, had higher hopes of making progress in Nebraska and Kansas, where the Democratic electorate is less diverse.
Campaigning in Detroit, Clinton said she was thrilled to add to her delegate count, “but now all eyes turn to MI”. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson dropped out of the race Friday. (AP) – Offering anything but clarity, Republicans delivered a split verdict between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in the latest round of presidential voting, offering fresh evidence of the turmoil still roiling the GOP after 19 states have had their say. Democrats in three states were choosing between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. There are 109 at stake on Saturday.
But the Sanders victory could indicate slowing momentum in Clinton’s campaign, which had earlier brushed off the liberal Vermont senator’s challenge as barely relevant.
Sanders, at a rally in suburban Warren, stressed his opposition to “disastrous” trade agreements that he said cost U.S.jobs.
Overall, Trump led with at least 378, Cruz had at least 295, Rubio 123 and Kasich 34. “As much as people like Rubio, as much people like Kasich, it’s going to be Trump and Cruz going forward”.
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“On March 15, Governor Kasich will win OH, picking up all 66 delegates and it will be clear who the best candidate is to go one-on-one against Trump in the remaining contests”, wrote Kasich’s chief strategist, John Weaver.
