March 2, 2016

Yesterday—Tuesday, March 1—was “Super Tuesday” in the United States. On that day, more states hold primaries and caucuses to choose delegates for the presidential nomination than on any other day. In 2016, 13 states held voting for the presidential nominee, but not all of them held a final vote selecting a winner.

The states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia held votes with results for both Republicans and Democrats. Alaska held voting only for the Republican nominee. Colorado and Wyoming held Republican caucuses but no final vote was taken for those caucuses; that vote comes later in the election cycle. The Democrats also held a vote in the territory of American Samoa and took ballots from expatriates (Americans living abroad) who consider themselves Democrats.

Super Tuesday was created in the late 1980′s to test political candidates and see how they and their campaigns would hold up under the strain of votes held in multiple states on the same day. When Super Tuesday was first instituted, early voting included only the Iowa caucus in January and the New Hampshire primary in March. The events are spread out and both are held in small, rural states that are not representative of the United States as a whole. Super Tuesday allows political parties to see how their candidate does organizing a campaign in many states on the same day, something that is closer to what happens in the nationwide presidential election in November. It also tests candidates in states that have more racially diverse and larger populations. For yesterday’s events, the winning candidates were Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and American Samoa. Bernie Sanders came out ahead in Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and his home state of Vermont. A Democratic candidate needs 2,383 delegates to win the presidential nomination. Yesterday, Clinton gained 486 pledged delegates and 101 unpledged delegates (superdelegates who back a candidate but may vote for whomever they choose at the convention) for a total of 587. Sanders gained 321 pledged and 7 unpledged for a total of 328 Super Tuesday delegates. These additions gave Clinton a total of 1,034 delegates for the voting season and Sanders 408.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump won Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. Ted Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma, and his home state of Texas. Marco Rubio won his first state, Minnesota. Lower-polling candidates John Kasich and Ben Carson won no states in the Super Tuesday race. Late on March 2, Ben Carson announced he was suspending his campaign, saying he saw “no political path forward” towards the presidential nomination.

All of the delegates for the Republicans are pledged delegates. On Super Tuesday, Trump gained 234 delegates, Cruz gained 209, and Rubio 90. These delegates gave Trump 316 delegates, Cruz 226, and Rubio 106. A Republican candidate needs 1,237 delegates to win the party’s nomination for president.

No candidate has clinched his or her party’s nomination, but Sanders, Cruz, or Rubio would have a difficult time at this point in overtaking the leaders in the race.