He said, “The scream you hear – the howl that comes from Washington, DC – is utter terror at what we the people are doing together”, and said conservatives are “coming together… and standing as one behind this campaign”.
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Cruz, however, does top Trump among voters who identify themselves as “very conservative”, taking that group 43% to 30%.
Trump, at a post-election news conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, declared himself the day’s victor, and said he wanted Rubio to drop out so he could take Cruz on in a man-to-man contest.
Rubio picked up only a few delegates, unable to capitalize on the establishment assault on Trump, who called on Rubio to step aside.
Overall, Trump led with at least 378, Cruz had at least 295, Rubio 123 and Kasich 34.
Now, on to Puerto Rico on Sunday, and then Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii on Tuesday.
“If we win Florida, it’s over”, Trump told a crowd of about 10,000 in Orlando during a rally in which he called Rubio a “total lightweight” and “Little Marco” and surrogates blistered Rubio’s record on immigration.
Super Saturday voting is happening in the wake of former Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s assault on Trump, which ignited a civil war within the GOP between establishment figures and the billionaire’s army of angry “outsider” voters. Also, one thing to remember. Trump and Kasich are virtually tied on which candidate best understands the middle class. Meanwhile, one-third of voters feel Cruz is too conservative, and four in ten feel Trump is not conservative enough.
Just hours ahead of a Democratic debate in Flint, Mich., Bernie Sanders admitted Sunday that the delegate numbers are stacked against him in the race for his party’s nomination, but citing victories a day earlier in Kansas and Nebraska, showed no sign of dropping out.
Mr Cruz urged supporters of the less successful candidates such as Mr Rubio and John Kasich to join his campaign and stop outspoken property magnate Mr Trump, who has said he plans to build a wall on the border with Mexico and to bar Muslims from entering the US. He is the first Jewish candidate to ever win nomination contests in a presidential run.
Cruz, for his part, said his strong showing was “a manifestation of a real shift in momentum”. There’ll be those who’ll suggest that this was no big deal, no game-changer, as Kansas, neighboring Oklahoma, where Cruz won on Tuesday, and Iowa, where he pulled off an upset win back on February 1, offered fertile ground for the Texan. A win in the Sunshine State is a must for its junior senator, who not only has vowed to win for his own sake, but to deny Trump its 99 winner-take-all delegates.
Trump, still the front-runner in the delegate count, bagged Kentucky and Louisiana on Saturday. Sanders won Nebraska and Kansas while Clinton bagged Louisiana – a delegate-rich state.
Rubio, similarly, has gained in the polls against Trump in his home state of Florida.
Cruz argued for the field to continue narrowing in his victory speech, claiming he has demonstrated an ability to beat Trump with consistency, and warning that a failure to coalesce behind him will lead to Trump’s nomination. This means that even if Sanders could take some states along the way, Clinton will still be getting additional delegates for her campaign’s end. Rubio has won one.
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Overall, Clinton had at least 1,121 delegates to Sanders’ 479, including superdelegates – members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice.
