Businessman Donald Trump walked away from Super Tuesday with a strengthened claim to the GOP nomination, but both of his chief national rivals notched wins that will most likely propel them onto the next series of contests.
Trump was the projected winner of GOP primaries in Virginia, Vermont, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Massachusetts and Alabama, NBC News reported.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, won Oklahoma and his home state of Texas, NBC projected. And U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was the projected winner of the Minnesota GOP caucus. Ted Cruz was projected to win Alaska, the final of the 11 states holding GOP contests on Tuesday, NBC News said.
In a Tuesday night address, Trump struck a general election tone, saying he has expanded the Republican party’s voter base and hitting Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in his speech.
“I am a unifier, I know people are going to find that a little bit hard to believe, but believe me that I am a unifier,” Trump said. “Once we get all of this finished, I am going to go after one person — that’s Hillary Clinton.”
“When we unify, there’s nobody — nobody — that’s going to beat us,” he said at the conclusion of his victory speech.