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1st LD: Trump continues momentum with victories in Mississippi, Michigan

Xinhua, March 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

New York billionaire developer Donald Trump continued his momentum Tuesday with two big victories in Mississippi and Michigan Republican primaries, delivering a strong blow to mainstream Republicans who scrambled recently to derail his campaign.

Trump was declared winner in Michigan by U.S. major TV networks immediately as polls closed at 9:00 p.m. ET (0200 GMT), about half an hour after his big win in Mississippi was called.

Early results in Michigan with 29 percent of all votes counted showed Trump had already won 37.9 percent, trailed by Ohio Governor John Kasich, who campaigned aggressively there.

Meanwhile, Trump won about 50 percent support in Mississippi with 25 percent of votes counted, and his commanding victory there reinforced his strength among deeply conservative and evangelical electorates, who historically would vote for his major rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Tuesday's Republican contests, which also included a Republican primary in Idaho and Republican caucuses in Hawaii, came at a time when mainstream Republicans was in turmoil over how to derail Trump's campaign.

According to a new study released Tuesday, a coalition of mainstream Republicans committed to halting Trump's momentum blanketed the country with 7,000 anti-Trump TV advertisements over the past seven days, taking up 76 percent of all political attack TV ads which were broadcasted over the same period.

On the Democratic side, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton solidified her lead over her only rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, with a big win in Mississippi Democratic primary, according to local media projections.

Clinton was declared the winner almost the same time when polls closed at 8:00 p.m. ET (0100 GMT), and her commanding victory there was widely expected due to robust support from local black voters. Sanders barely spent any of his time campaigning in the Deep South state.

Another Democratic primary was also held in Michigan, and early results showed that Clinton and Sanders were tied there.

Clinton entered the contest Tuesday with a substantial edge over Sanders in terms of pledged delegates, with 673 to 477, according to a New York Times delegate count. Endi