LANSING, Mich. — Republican front-runner Donald Trump swept to victory in the Mississippi and Michigan presidential primaries Tuesday, deepening his grip on the GOP nominating contest despite fierce efforts to block his path.
The primaries offered Trump a chance to pad his delegate lead and turn an eye toward the Democrats and the general election, as he emphasized the importance of helping Republican senators and House members get elected in the fall. Having entered Tuesday’s contests facing a barrage of criticism from rival candidates and outside groups, he reveled in overcoming the attacks.
“Every single person who has attacked me has gone down,’’ Trump said at one of his Florida resorts. In his typically unorthodox style, the billionaire was flanked by tables packed with his retail products, including steaks, bottled water, and wine.
While a handful of recent losses to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas have raised questions about Trump’s durability, Tuesday’s contests marked another lost opportunity for rivals to slow his momentum. Next week’s winner-take-all primaries in Ohio and Florida loom especially large as perhaps the last chance to stop him short of a long-shot contested convention fight.
Cruz carried the Idaho primary Tuesday; results from Hawaii were not expected until Wednesday.
Governor John Kasich of Ohio was in a fight for second place in Michigan and hoping for a boost heading into next week’s crucial contest in his home state.
For Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a favorite of Republican elected officials, Tuesday marked the latest in a series of disappointing nights. He emerged from Michigan and Mississippi with no delegates.
Rubio insisted he would press on to his home state’s primary.
“It has to happen here, and it has to happen now,’’ Rubio told supporters Tuesday during a rally in Sarasota.
If Rubio and Kasich can’t win at home, the GOP primary appears set to become a two-person race between Trump and Cruz. The Texas senator is sticking close to Trump in the delegate count, and with six states in his win column, he has argued that he’s the only candidate standing between the brash billionaire and the GOP nomination.
During a campaign stop at a North Carolina church Tuesday, Cruz took on Trump for asking rally attendees to pledge their allegiance to him. He said the move strikes him as “profoundly wrong’’ and is something “kings and queens demand’’ of their subjects.
“I’m not here asking any of you to pledge your support of me,’’ Cruz said, to thunderous applause and cheers. “I’m pledging my support of you.’’
In all, GOP candidates were fighting for 150 delegates Tuesday.
With Tuesday’s wins, Trump leads the Republican field with 428 delegates, followed by Cruz with 315, Rubio with 151, and Kasich with 52.
