Despite the hopes of their opponents for major upsets heading into the most recent Super Tuesday of the 2016 presidential campaign, businessman Donald Trump and former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton had big nights that all but ended the competition. Trump easily won in three of the five states up for grabs and the Northern Marianas Islands. He is also narrowly ahead in Missouri, but that race has not been officially called. Clinton definitely won four of the five available states, and she appears to have won Missouri as well.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's failure to win his home state triggered his withdrawal from the Republican race. Ohio Gov. John Kasich secured his first win in the quest for the nomination, winning his home state by an 11 percent margin. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, currently in second in the delegate race, did not win a state.
With Trump still winning the majority of states and territories, it is becoming increasingly improbable that any of his remaining opponents can overcome his lead in delegates. The best hope for Republicans looking to prevent Trump from getting the nomination is for no one candidate to reach the required number of delegates to secure the nomination, triggering a brokered convention. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination.
Clinton's sweep is a major blow to the campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was hoping to utilized momentum from his upset win in Michigan on March 8 to pull off more wins in Ohio and Illinois. The two Rust Belt states are thought to have similar demographics to Michigan, but Clinton was able to win both.
Sanders has vowed to stay in the race , and surrogates from his campaign argued that upcoming states are friendlier to him than Clinton.
He will have to overcome Clinton's massive lead in delegates. She leads by more than 300 in pledged delegates, those that are allocated by primaries and caucuses, and by more than 400 in super delegates, leaders in the Democratic Party free to back any candidate. It takes 2,383 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.
The next "Super Tuesday" isn't until April 26, with multiple states in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions heading to the polls. Multiple single states and smaller groups will vote in the interim. States like Wisconsin, New York and Washington will have big ramifications because of their large delegate counts.