Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have both won the most states in the biggest day of the race for the US presidential nomination.
Photo: AFP
Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Virginia were among the states where both triumphed. Mr Trump was defeated by Ted Cruz in Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska, while Marco Rubio won his first state of the Republican race by taking Minnesota.
Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders won Oklahoma, Minnesota, Colorado and his home state of Vermont.
Mrs Clinton has also taken Texas and Massachusetts; Mr Trump has won Massachusetts and Vermont.
Super Tuesday sees 11 states voting on the biggest single day ahead of the 8 November presidential election.
Watch FSN correspondent Steve Mort talk to Checkpoint about the results:
The former secretary of state and real estate mogul entered Super Tuesday as the favourites to win the vast majority of states for their respective parties.
Early exit polls show Mr Trump and Ohio Governor John Kasich leading the Republican field in Vermont. The race in Virginia was also tight, with Marco Rubio - who has yet to win a primary - coming a close second behind Mr Trump.
Hillary Clinton at a rally during a campaign event on Super Tuesday in Miami. Photo: AFP
Talking to her supporters in Miami, Mrs Clinton said the country "belonged to all of us".
"America prospers when we all prosper. America is strong when we're all strong. And we know we've got work to do. But that work is not to make America great again," said Mrs Clinton to screaming supporters holding American flags, after winning five states.
"America never stopped being great. We have to make America whole, we have to fill in what's been hollowed out... What America needs today is more love and kindness."
Speaking to a loud crowd in Vermont, Mr Sanders said it was "good to be home".
"I've been all over this country, but the truth is it is great and great to come home, see all my friends.
"We want to win in every part of the country, but it means so much to me that the people who knew me best have voted so strongly to put us in the White House."
More on Super Tuesday
Mrs Clinton is hoping to build on her weekend victory in South Carolina, where she polled heavily among African-Americans, to restore her political fortunes after a bruising defeat in New Hampshire to Mr Sanders, her self-styled democratic socialist rival.
On 8 November, America is due to elect a successor to Barack Obama, a Democratic president standing down after two terms in office which have seen the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress.
Donald Trump at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Photo: AFP
The colourful campaign of Mr Trump, who won three of the four early voting states, has divided Republicans.
On the eve of the polls, Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse became the highest-ranked elected party member to come out and say he would not back him for president.
He said he was "frustrated and saddened" and would look for a third option if Mr Trump won the Republican nomination.
Marco Rubio, the third-placed Republican contender after Mr Trump and Mr Cruz, is hoping to stay competitive, gambling on a win in his home state of Florida on 15 March.
From top left, clockwise: Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump Photo: AFP / 123RF
Mr Trump's commitment to several controversial immigration pledges, including the wholesale deportation of illegal immigrants and construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border, was called into question on Monday after reports describing an off-the-record conversation with the New York Times editorial board.
Mr Cruz, Mr Rubio and former Republican candidate Mitt Romney have called on Mr Trump to authorise the release of the transcript, in which Mr Trump reportedly says his hardline immigration policies would be flexible if he were elected.
An election official holds a roll of "I voted" stickers in Centreville, Virginia, on Super Tuesday (1 March). Photo: AFP
Mr Trump also faced heavy criticism over his failure to disavow David Duke, a leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who has endorsed the Republican candidate.
Protesters, including some from the Black Lives Matter movement, repeatedly disrupted a Trump rally in Radford, Virginia, on Monday after his refusal to condemn Mr Duke.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed Mr Duke.
Mr Trump told ABC: "There's nobody who's done so much for equality as I have."
-BBC
