Super Tuesday is over. The most decisive day on the primary election process has divided a large number of delegates among the remaining candidates. The questions then are, who won? Who lost? And what do these results mean?

The Winners: As predicted in this site’s preview, there were two big winners on this Super Tuesday, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In the Democratic race, Clinton won 7 states and the American Samoa Caucus, while her only rival Bernie Sanders only won 4 states including his home state of Vermont (see all the results at the bottom of this page). Hence, not only did Clinton win more states than Sanders, she also won the big ones with many delegates, such as Texas. However, the silver lining for Sanders here is that this was in many ways expected, since most of the states voting on Super Tuesday were southern states and with many black minority voters, which heavily favor Clinton.

In the Republican race, Trump was the big winner swooping up wins in 7 states. Ted Cruz won 3 states, including his home state Texas, while Marco Rubio won the caucus in Minnesota. This makes Trump the biggest winner, while Ted Cruz won the internal battle for runner-up against Rubio. However, Cruz were more favored in the southern states than Rubio, while Rubio is expected to do better when the field goes back to northern states, such as Minnesota which he won. The remaining two candidates, Ben Carson and John Kasich did not win a single state, although Kasich did pick up two 2nd places in Massachusetts and Vermont.

Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton

The Losers: The two biggest losers on Super Tuesday were probably Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio (pictured below). However, both of these candidates were not expected to do well compared to their opponents in most of the states that were up for graps during Super Tuesday. In other words, it was almost expected and calculated losses, which both candidates will hope to recover from in the next primaries. The only two candidates who did not win a single state, Carson and Kasich, might also be counted among the losers. However, of the two, Carson must feel most disappointed, since the south, where most of the states participating in Super Tuesday were located, is the area he is expected to get the most support, unlike Kasich who is more favored in the north.

Bernie Sanders
Marco Rubio

What do these results mean? Since 1988, the winner of Super Tuesday has gone on to win the nomination. And this could very well be the case in 2016 as well. In any case, it seems that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is on their way to win their parties’ nominations. In the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders will need to pick up some big wins in March to get some momentum and even then it will be very difficult for him, due to Clinton’s support among the super delegates. In the Republican race, Trump is cruising towards the nomination, with his competitors taking votes from each other and, thus, not really mounting any real threat. Furthermore, it seems all of them intent to stay in the race a while longer, which will probably favor Trump the most. Cruz just won 3 states and is not going anywhere. Rubio won his first state and is the favored candidate among the Republican establishment. Kasich seems unwilling to leave the race and send his voters to Rubio and hopes to do better in the coming northern states. And Carson is a protest candidate, who seems determined to stay in race fight against the establishment, although Trump is doing that for him. All in all, Super Tuesday might very well have given us a strong indicator as to who will become the two parties’ nominations. The question is if Clinton and Trump can keep the momentum going, at the moment it certainly looks like it.

The Numbers*:

The Democratic race:

Alabama:

  1. Hillary Clinton 78%
  2. Bernie Sanders 19%

American Samoa (caucus):

  1. Hillary Clinton 68%
  2. Bernie Sanders 26%

Arkansas:

  1. Hillary Clinton 66%
  2. Bernie Sanders 30%

Colorado (caucus):

  1. Bernie Sanders 59%
  2. Hillary Clinton 40%

Georgia:

  1. Hillary Clinton 71%
  2. Bernie Sanders 28%

Massachusetts:

  1. Hillary Clinton 50%
  2. Bernie Sanders 49%

Minnesota (caucus):

  1. Bernie Sanders 62%
  2. Hillary Clinton 38%

Oklahoma:

  1. Bernie Sanders 52%
  2. Hillary Clinton 42%

Tennessee:

  1. Hillary Clinton 66%
  2. Bernie Sanders 32%

Texas:

  1. Hillary Clinton 65%
  2. Bernie Sanders 33%

Vermont:

  1. Bernie Sanders 86%
  2. Hillary Clinton 14%

Virginia:

  1. Hillary Clinton 64%
  2. Bernie Sanders 35%

The Republican race:

Alabama:

  1. Donald Trump 43%
  2. Ted Cruz 21%
  3. Marco Rubio 19%
  4. Ben Carson 10%
  5. John Kasich 4%

Alaska (caucus):

  1. Ted Cruz 36%
  2. Donald Trump 34%
  3. Marco Rubio 15%
  4. Ben Carson 11%
  5. John Kasich 4%

Arkansas:

  1. Donald Trump 33%
  2. Ted Cruz 31%
  3. Marco Rubio 25%
  4. Ben Carson 6%
  5. John Kasich 4%

Georgia:

  1. Donald Trump 39%
  2. Marco Rubio 25%
  3. Ted Cruz 24%
  4. Ben Carson 6%
  5. John Kasich 6%

Massachusetts:

  1. Donald Trump 49%
  2. John Kasich 18%
  3. Marco Rubio 18%
  4. Ted Cruz 10%
  5. Ben Carson 3%

Minnesota (caucus):

  1. Marco Rubio 37%
  2. Ted Cruz 29%
  3. Donald Trump 21%
  4. Ben Carson 7%
  5. John Kasich 6%

Oklahoma:

  1. Ted Cruz 34%
  2. Donald Trump 28%
  3. Marco Rubio 26%
  4. Ben Carson 6%
  5. John Kasich 4%

Tennessee:

  1. Donald Trump 39%
  2. Ted Cruz 25%
  3. Marco Rubio 21%
  4. Ben Carson 8%
  5. John Kasich 5%

Texas:

  1. Ted Cruz 44%
  2. Donald Trump 27%
  3. Marco Rubio 18%
  4. Ben Carson 4%
  5. John Kasich 4%

Vermont:

  1. Donald Trump 33%
  2. John Kasich 30%
  3. Marco Rubio 19%
  4. Ted Cruz 10%
  5. Ben Carson 4%

Virginia:

  1. Donald Trump 35%
  2. Marco Rubio 32%
  3. Ted Cruz 17%
  4. John Kasich 9%
  5. Ben Carson 6%

*Numbers taken from CNN’s estimates.

Want to read more about the candidates? Head on over to the candidates’ page.

(Photo credit: Wikimedia, DonkeyHotey & Gage Skidmore)