Donald Trump won the first 13 primary elections in the "Super Tuesday" states, including Texas and California, but lost out on a clean sweep after Nikki Haley's surprise upset in Vermont.
The former president, bidding for a sensational White House comeback after being unseated by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, hopes to take home an almost-decisive haul of delegates on Tuesday in his march to the Republican Party nomination.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia were all called by US networks for Trump, who expressed thanks on his Truth Social site as counts continued in the other Super Tuesday states across the country.
His longshot challenger, former UN ambassador Haley, narrowly won the northeast state of Vermont. She has so far refused to drop out of the race.
In the Democratic nomination contest, as expected, Biden won all of the 14 states to be called by US networks, though he was projected to lose to little-known challenger Jason Palmer in the small Pacific Ocean territory of American Samoa.
Polling averages from RealClearPolitics show Trump two points ahead of Biden in a one-on-one match-up in the November election.
IOL