Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has won three more states – Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii – in his bid for the White House nomination.
In the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders had a surprise victory in Michigan, but Hillary Clinton increased her overall lead with a big Mississippi win.
Republican Ted Cruz won in Idaho.
The states are the latest to choose candidates to compete in November’s presidential election.
It was a terrible night for Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who came in a distant fourth in both Michigan and Mississippi, a week before his must-win contest in his home state.
Donald Trump, a businessman with no experience of elected office, leads the polls in Florida, from where he delivered his victory speech on March 8.
“One of the things I am most happy about is the turnout has been just massive… I think it’s the single biggest story in politics today,” the billionair said at a press conference in Jupiter.
Donald Trump also said he would be more presidential than anybody except Abraham Lincoln and that “no one is more conservative than me”.
The Democratic opponent Donald Trump is most likely to face if he gets the Republican nomination, Hillary Clinton, addressed voters in Ohio after her Mississippi win.
“Running for president shouldn’t be about delivering insults,” said Hillary Clinton, in a thinly veiled dig at the outspoken Donald Trump.
“It should be about delivering results.”
Bernie Sanders’ win in Michigan came as a shock after weeks of polling that suggested Hillary Clinton was well ahead.
“I am grateful to the people of Michigan for defying the pundits and pollsters and giving us their support,” Bernie Sanders said in a statement following his win.
“This is a critically important night. We came from 30 points down in Michigan and we’re seeing the same kind of come-from-behind momentum all across America.”
Analysts say conservative firebrand Ted Cruz appears to be the only candidate capable of stopping Donald Trump, who has been fiercely criticized by the Republican establishment.
The party’s 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, described Donald Trump as a bully and a fraud who would lose a general election because of his extreme positions on immigration and Islamic State.
A central plank of Donald Trump’s campaign is to deport 11 million undocumented migrants and build a wall on the southern border, paid for by Mexico.
The primary and caucus elections determine the number of delegates assigned to each of the candidates.
The delegates then endorse their candidate at the party conventions in July. To secure their party’s nomination, a candidate must win a majority of delegates.
