Trump storms toward Republican nomination as Haley’s Super Tuesday hopes dwindle

Former president Donald Trump continued his march to the Republican nomination with victories in North Carolina, Virginia and a host of other Super Tuesday contests while Nikki Haley picked up a victory in Vermont.

The twice-impeached and four-times-indicted former president cruised to victory in Texas, Virginia, Colorado, Arkansas and North Carolina, trouncing the former South Carolina governor. The contests also come as states including California wait to be called.

Republicans held primary contests in 15 states on Super Tuesday – including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia – as well as caucuses in Alaska and Utah. Super Tuesday typically marks the halfway point in primary contests and candidates who dominate on Super Tuesday typically go on to win the nomination of their party.

Mr Trump touted his decisive victory in a victory speech.

“They call it 'Super Tuesday' for a reason,” Mr Trump. “This is a big one. They tell me, the pundits and otherwise, that there's never been one like this. There's never been anything so conclusive.”

At the same time, Ms Haley picked up her second primary victory in Vermont, a heavily white state in New England with a high level of college education, following her victory this weekend in the District of Columbia primary.

Super Tuesday puts up 865 delegates up for grabs, with the biggest states being Texas at 161 delegates and California with 122 delegates. The nominee for the Republican Party needs 1,215 delegates. Multiple states have yet to be called, including California, whose polls close at 8 pm PST and where a number of mail-in ballots will be counted in coming days.

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