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 In the Democratic contest, Bernie Sanders stunned front-runner
Hillary Clinton in a narrow Michigan primary upset, giving his
upstart campaign new energy. Clinton won in Mississippi, but
Sanders' victory is seen as likely to ensure a prolonged fight to
pick a candidate for November's general election.
Trump's convincing win in Michigan restored his outsider campaign's
momentum and increased the pressure on the party's anti-Trump forces
to find a way to stop the brash billionaire's march to the
nomination ahead of several key contests next week.
The 69-year-old New Yorker built his victories in Michigan, in the
heart of the industrial Midwest, and Mississippi in the Deep South
with broad appeal across many demographics. He won evangelical
Christians, Republicans, independents, those who wanted an outsider
and those who said they were angry about how the federal government
is working, according to exit polls.
At a news conference afterward, Trump said he was drawing new voters
to the Republican Party and the establishment figures who are
resisting his campaign should save their money and focus on beating
the Democrats in November.
"I hope Republicans will embrace it," Trump said of his campaign.
"We have something going that is so good, we should grab each other
and unify the party."
The results were a setback for rival John Kasich, governor of Ohio,
who had hoped to pull off a surprise win in neighboring Michigan,
and Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida who has become the
establishment favorite but lagged badly in both Michigan and
Mississippi and appeared unlikely to win delegates in either.
Trump said Rubio's recent attacks on him had backfired.
"Hostility works for some people; it doesn't work for everyone," the
real estate magnate said at a news conference in Jupiter, Florida.
Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas whose recent victories have
positioned him as the prime alternative to the brash billionaire,
won the party's primary in Idaho.
But Trump suggested his rivals had little hope going forward, and
took particular aim at Cruz.
'A HARD TIME'
"Ted is going to have a hard time," Trump said of Cruz. "He rarely
beats me."
Trump continues to enjoy a wide lead nationally in the Republican
race, although Cruz has been climbing over the past week. Among
those who identify as Republicans, Trump has settled in at about 40
percent support, according to a five-day rolling average ending on
Tuesday in the Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Cruz at 23 percent and Kasich at 11 percent have been on the rise,
largely at Rubio's expense.
The Michigan victory sets Trump up for a potentially decisive day of
voting a week from Tuesday. On March 15, Ohio, Florida, Illinois,
Missouri and North Carolina - like Michigan, states rich in the
delegates who will select their party's nominee at July's Republican
National Convention - cast ballots.
The Republican contests in Florida and Ohio award all the state's
delegates to the winner. If Trump could sweep those two states and
pile up delegates elsewhere next week, it could knock home-state
favorites Rubio and Kasich out of the race and make it tough for
Cruz to catch him.
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"The biggest takeaway is that the Republican establishment is in its
death throes. The only remaining candidates are 100 percent
anti-establishment," said Mark Meckler, an early Tea Party movement
founder.
Republicans were also voting on Tuesday in caucuses in Hawaii.
Many mainstream Republicans have been offended by Trump's statements
on Muslims, immigrants and women and alarmed by his threats to
international trade deals. Trump said on Tuesday he has not
assembled a foreign policy team, despite having said he would have
one in place by February, and dismissed criticism his statements
would be harmful to U.S. interests.
Anti-Trump Super PACS have spent millions of dollars on
advertisements designed to attack Trump's character in Florida, a
state Rubio calls home and Trump calls a second home.
But Trump's relentless anti-free trade rhetoric and promise to slap
taxes on cars and parts shipped in from Mexico resonated in
Michigan, which has lost tens of thousands of manufacturing and auto
industry jobs.
"The solid victory in Michigan is based on his populist message
about bringing industry back to this country," Meckler said.
In the Democratic race, Sanders told reporters in Florida that the
results in Michigan were a repudiation of the opinion polls and
pundits who had written off his chances in the state. Polls had
shown Clinton with a double-digit lead going into the primary.
The U.S. senator from Vermont, a democratic socialist, said the win
showed his political revolution was "strong in every part of the
country. Frankly, we believe our strongest areas are yet to come."
Clinton's campaign signaled ahead of Michigan that the race could be
tight. Clinton, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and
daughter Chelsea Clinton all campaigned in the state over the past
few days trying to garner last-minute votes.
(Additional reporting by Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson,
Alana Wise and Amanda Becker in Washington, and Ginger Gibson in
Concord, North Carolina; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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