Ohio Gov. John Kasich was declared the winner in his home state Tuesday night, while Donald Trump registered three victories.
Trump was projected the winner of the Florida Republican primary Tuesday evening, dealing a blow to Sen. Marco Rubio in his home state.
Multiple networks called the race in favor of Trump immediately after polls closed in the state at 8:00 P.M. EST. While the races in Illinois and North Carolina were initially too close to call, Trump was later declared the winner in both states.
The remaining primary in Missouri was still too close to call as of early Wednesday morning, with Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) locked in a tight battle to win the state. The two were separated by less than two-tenths of a percentage point with about 100 percent of precincts reporting, with Trump slightly in the lead. The delegates in Missouri are awarded proportionally, unlike in Florida and Ohio, both winner-take-all states.
Minutes after the race was called in Florida, Rubio announced the suspension of his campaign during remarks to supporters from his headquarters in Miami.
"After tonight, it is clear that while we are on the right side this year, we will not be on the winning side," Rubio said.
For the trio of remaining Republican candidates looking to stop Trump, the frontrunner, Tuesday’s voting presented a crucial opportunity to slow the business mogul’s accumulation of delegates.
Focus has primarily centered on the Republican winner-take-all states of Florida and Ohio, both of them home states of candidates other than Trump. Republican voters also headed to the polls in Illinois, Missouri, and North Carolina.
Most polls out of Florida have shown Trump leading the field by double digits followed by native Sen. Rubio in a distant second. Some have speculated that Rubio would leave the race in the event of a loss in Florida Tuesday night, though the senator vowed in an interview with Fox News to continue his campaign regardless of the results out of his home state.
In Ohio, recent surveys showed Kasich either tied or with a slight lead over Trump, indicating that Kasich had a solid chance to lock up his home state’s delegates by the end of voting.
Going into Tuesday, Cruz, who has run second to Trump in several primaries, was right at the business mogul’s heels in Illinois. Polling in Missouri had been nearly nonexistent, though a survey released by Fort Hays State University last week had Trump ahead of Cruz by seven points among likely primary voters.
Meanwhile, Trump enjoyed a solid lead over his competitors in North Carolina.
Tuesday’s voting followed days of controversy surrounding violence at Trump rallies. His campaign was forced to cancel a rally in Chicago last Friday due to clashes between protesters and his supporters in the arena where the event was scheduled. One of his supporters also punched a protester at a North Carolina rally earlier in the week. Trump indicated that he may pay the supporter’s legal fees.
Trump has maintained his top spot in national polls despite contentious policy proposals and statements about women, Mexicans, Muslims, and others. Many who do not support Trump’s candidacy have looked to the possibility of a brokered convention to halt his nomination.