DEVELOPING …
The Republican presidential race was rocked Tuesday night as John Kasich followed through and won his home state of Ohio, Fox News projects — while Marco Rubio bowed out after losing to Donald Trump in Florida.
Fox News also can project that Trump will defeat Ted Cruz in North Carolina’s Republican presidential primary.
On the Democratic side, Fox News can project that Hillary Clinton will defeat Beie Sanders’ in Ohio’s primary. This is in addition to the former secretary of state’s projected wins in North Carolina and Florida, completing her sweep of the Southe state contests.
“This was another Super Tuesday for our campaign,” Clinton said at a victory party in West Palm Beach, Fla., while claiming she is now “very close to wiing the Democratic Party nomination.”
For Kasich, his Ohio win was his first of the campaign and will deliver him all of the Buckeye State’s 66 delegates. He had effectively staked his campaign's survival on a victory there.
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Kasich made clear at his election night party in Berea, Ohio, that he will press on, heading next to Pesylvania and vowing to keep ruing a positive campaign.
“I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land,” he said. "We are going to go all the way to Cleveland and secure the Republican nomination.”
Even with his Tuesday haul, Kasich remains in last place in the delegate count and faces the toughest path to the nomination of the remaining candidates. He has openly said, however, that his hope is to deny Trump the requisite delegates to clinch the nomination, leading to a contested convention in July.
While Kasich presses on, Florida Sen. Rubio suspended his campaign Tuesday after he was projected to lose the primary in his home state to Trump. Florida also is a wier-take-all state for Republicans.
He made the aouncement to disappointed supporters at a rally in Miami, ending a campaign that began with great promise and recently had picked up support from a wide range of Republican lawmakers. But Rubio trailed in the delegate count, having won only three contests so far.
“It is clear that while we are on the right side this year, we will not be on the wiing side,” Rubio told supporters in Miami, adding: “My campaign is suspended.”
Rubio declined to endorse anybody as he suspended his campaign, lamenting what he described as the “politics of resentment.”
“While this may not have been the year for a hopeful and optimistic message about our future, I still remain hopeful and optimistic about America,” Rubio said, in remarks heavy on his personal faith.
Voters went to the polls Tuesday across five states in what’s been dubbed Super Tuesday II – with contests in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois.
In Illinois and Missouri, it was too early to call the Democratic races.
In the Buckeye State, Fox News exit polls showed that Kasich won with help from late-deciders.
In Missouri, exit polls show Trump and rival Cruz locked in a close contest in the state’s GOP primary, though it is too early to project a wier. Trump is slightly ahead of Cruz in Illinois, according to Fox News exit polls.
For both Kasich and Rubio, a win in their home states was considered critical Tuesday night.
Rubio told Fox News earlier Tuesday that he’d move on “irrespective” of the results in Florida, traveling on to Utah, which votes next week. But he made clear Tuesday evening his campaign was coming to an end.
To date, Trump and Cruz have been pressuring both Rubio and Kasich to get out, hoping Tuesday’s five primaries might be the final blow to their underdog bids. But Kasich could continue to draw delegates and help prevent any candidate from clinching the nomination before the convention.
Kasich, speaking to reporters in Ohio after casting a vote for himself for president, also said he’ll be “forced, going forward, to talk about some of the deep conces” he has about Trump’s campaign including combative Idea the Republican front-ruer has made in recent days about his rallies.
Tuesday has more delegates up for grabs than almost any other day on the campaign calendar.
There are 691 at stake on the Democratic side, and 367 at stake on the GOP side. He will get all nine delegates from the U.S. territory.
Trump currently leads the race for delegates with 469. Cruz has 370, Rubio has 163 and Kasich has 63.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the GOP nomination.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.