Nikki Haley has beaten Donald Trump in Vermont’s Republican primary in a close fight coming down to the wire.
Even so, the former president declared victory in a rambling speech after winning about a dozen primaries.
Mr Trump took the stage at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night saying: “They call it Super Tuesday for a reason. This is a big one.”
“They tell me the pundits and otherwise that there’s never been one like this … has never been anything so conclusive,” he added.
Both President Joe Biden and Mr Trump claimed early victories in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. Mr Biden faced an upset from an unknown candidate in the US territory of American Samoa.
As it stands, Donald Trump looks all but certain to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate once again, having already chalked up big wins in Iowa, the US Virgin Islands, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, Michigan, Idaho, and Missouri.
Only the well-funded but under-performing ex-UN ambassador Ms Haley remains to challenge him. She previously won Washington DC.
