Caucus And Primary Live Updates 2016: Results From Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho And Hawaii

UPDATE: 2:40 a.m. EST — Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential caucuses in Hawaii with 45.2 percent of the vote in, after wins earlier Tuesday in Michigan and Mississippi, the Associated Press reported.

UPDATE: 12:10 a.m. EST — Ted Cruz is projected to win the Idaho GOP primary, giving him another significant victory in his fight to become the party's only alternative to Donald Trump.

UPDATE: 11:32 p.m. EST — Bernie Sanders has won the Michigan Democratic primary, trumping Hillary Clinton in a race that could signal trouble for her likely general election fight in November. Sanders did well with black voters and white, blue-collar voters in Michigan, demographics Clinton needs to win the White House.

Clinton had tried to win votes in Michigan (and other Rust Belt states) by portraying Sanders' opposition to a Wall Street bailout bill as a vote against saving the auto industry. That tactic may have backfired. Her support for trade bills over the years also may have hurt her with voters in places badly hit by lost jobs and outsourcing. A CNN exit poll found that Sanders significantly beat Clinton among voters who said U.S. trade policies have cost American jobs.

UPDATE: 11:05 p.m. EST — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders thanked people who “repudiated the polls” Tuesday as he waited for results in Michigan. The race was too close to call with 72 percent of the vote in. Sanders had 51 percent of the Democratic primary vote and Hillary Clinton had 47.1 percent, the New York Times reported.

UPDATE: 10:15 p.m. EST — With 43 percent of the vote in, Bernie Sanders leads Hillary Clinton 51.7-46.6 in the Michigan Democratic primary, the Washington Post reported. If that holds, the race will show how polls sometimes just don't get it right. Before Tuesday, Clinton was ahead of Sanders among likely primary voters in Michigan by 17 points, 57 percent to 40 percent, according to a NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll this week.

UPDATE: 10:10 p.m. EST — Hillary Clinton said the U.S. must invest in communities to avoid tragedies like the police shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who was killed while playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland park in 2014. During her victory speech after winning big in Mississippi Tuesday night and as she waited for results from Michigan, where rival Bernie Sanders was putting up a close right, Clinton vowed to “put the country back together."”

“America belongs to all of us, not just those who are already successful,” Clinton said.

UPDATE: 9:38 p.m. EST — Hillary Clinton swept Mississippi on Tuesday night, picking up the vast majority of white and black voters, the Washington Post reported. Clinton won about 9 out of every 10 votes from blacks and the majority share of whites. She also claimed older voters, many of whom were black, winning 9 out of 10 voters who were 45 or older.

UPDATE: 9:24 p.m. EST — Donald Trump said the Republican establishment can't stop him as he thanked supporters Tuesday night following projected wins in the Michigan and Mississippi GOP primaries. “I don't think I've ever heard so many horrible, horrible things said about me in one week,” Trump said.

Trump touted his endorsements from Republican leaders like Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Trump said U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has campaigned as the only candidate who can stop "The Donald," except that the Texan isn't winning, he said.

Trump, noting that he would dominate the Northeastern, states that vote in April in one-on-one race with Cruz. He's right.

UPDATE: 9:10 p.m. EST — Donald Trump is projected to win Michigan's Republican primary, NBC News and Fox News reported.

UPDATE: 9:05 p.m. EST — Marco Rubio urged supporters Tuesday night to help him win Florida next week and the Republican nomination. Rubio said whoever wins Florida's GOP primary next Tuesday will eventually win the Republican nomination for president.

“I need your help,” Rubio told supporters at a rally in Ponte Vedra, Florida. “I believe with all my heart that the winner of the Florida primary next Tuesday will be the nominee of the Republican Party.”

UPDATE: 8:35 p.m. EST — Donald Trump was projected Tuesday to win Mississippi's Republican primary over U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who was expected to finish in second place, according to media reports. The results weren't surprising, and mean bad news for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who has struggled to persuade voters he is the better candidate to face off against Hillary Clinton in a November general election.

The campaigns were waiting for results from Michigan next.

Michigan: if you’re in line to vote, you have a right to vote. Stay in line and make your voice heard.

UPDATE: 8:25 p.m. EST — Early returns from Michigan show a tight race between Donald Trump and John Kasich, the New York Times reported Tuesday. “Three of the four states where Republicans are voting Tuesday have thresholds that candidates must meet to win ANY delegates at all. It's 20 percent in Idaho, and 15 percent in Michigan and Mississippi,” the newspaper explained.

UPDATE: 8:05 p.m. EST — Hillary Clinton is the projected winner of the Mississippi Democratic primary, NBC News and CBS News reported Tuesday night. Mississippi has 41 delegates up for grabs.

UPDATE: 7:35 p.m. EST — Most Republican voters in Michigan (62 percent) and Mississippi (75 percent) support Donald Trump's plan to temporarily ban Muslims who are not U.S. citizens from entering the country, early exit polling shows.

UPDATE: 6:55 p.m. EST — Republican voters are turning out to vote because they are angry, according to early exit polls compiled by ABC News. Roughly 40 percent of Michigan voters Tuesday said they are angry with the federal government, a sentiment that could help Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who both have pledged to transform the way politics works in Washington, D.C. In Mississippi, about 30 percent of GOP voters said they were angry at the federal government.

Among Democrats, voters in Mississippi said they mostly trusted Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders to “handle race relations.”

UPDATE: 6:35 p.m. EST — Bernie Sanders' campaign has filed a lawsuit against Ohio in a bid to allow 17-year-olds to vote in the state's Democratic primary next Tuesday. Republican Jon Husted, who is Ohio’s secretary of state, has changed the rules to make it so that voters who are 17, but will turn 18 by the time of the November general election, cannot vote in the state’s primaries.

“The secretary of state has decided to disenfranchise people who are 17 but will be 18 by the day of the general election,” Sanders' campaign said. “Those people have been allowed to vote under the law of Ohio, but the secretary of state of the state of Ohio has decided to disenfranchise those people to forbid them from voting in the primary that is coming up on March 15.”

UPDATE: 6:02 p.m. EST — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is catching up to business mogul Donald Trump in the polls, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. Trump remains the top pick of 30 percent of likely Republican primary voters nationally, followed by Cruz at 27 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 22 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has 20 percent, according to the poll.

UPDATE: 5:20 p.m. EST — The brother of an assassinated civil rights leader has endorsed Donald Trump in Mississippi.

The Southern state has a troubled racial history that includes the 1963 assassination of civil-rights leader Medgar Evers. Several white-supremacist leaders have endorsed Trump, but Evers' brother is still backing the business mogul.

“I believe in him first of all because he's a businessman,” said Charles Evers, Medgar's 93-year-old brother. “I think jobs are badly needed in Mississippi.”

UPDATE: 4:25 p.m. EST — Nearly two-dozen Florida mayors have asked for presidential candidates to discuss climate change during upcoming debates in Miami, given the state's vulnerability to sea-level rises. The group of 21 Republican and Democratic mayors wrote to the moderators of the Democratic and Republican TV debates to argue it would be “unconscionable for these issues of grave concern for the people of Florida to not be addressed.”

The Democratic debate, hosted by Univision and the Washington Post, is scheduled for Wednesday, with the Republican event, handled by CNN, Salem Radio and the Washington Times, broadcasting Thursday.

“This is a critically important issue not just for the country but also for the world, but it isn’t even being debated,” said Jack Seiler, the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, the Guardian reported Tuesday. “Some of the topics raised in the debates are ridiculous – the personal attacks go back and forth for 20 minutes – but when you try to talk about rising sea levels, it’s almost as if it’s too much of a mature topic for them.

UPDATE: 4:12 p.m. EST — Rumors that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is considering dropping out of the presidential race grew this week as radio host and Fox News contributor Erick Erickson demanded Tuesday that Rubio drop out and “ally with” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to “save the party.” “Marco Rubio needs to get out of the race now to stop Trump and save the party and nation. That's just the cold, hard, unpleasant reality,” he wrote.

UPDATE: 3:10 p.m. EST — Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declined to endorse Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday, noting he was “completely disgusted with national politics in both parties, Democrats and Republicans.”

Hogan made the comments during a news conference after he was asked whether he would support Trump if he wins the Republican presidential nomination.

“I’m trying to focus here in Maryland,” Hogan said. “I don’t know who the Republican nominee is going to be, don’t know who the Democratic nominee is going to be and don’t know if we’re going to have a third-party candidate. So it’s way too early to speculate about who I might consider once I pull that curtain. But I’m not going to get involved. I’m going to stay focused here in Maryland.”

UPDATE: 2:23 p.m. EST — Ted Cruz's campaign reportedly has a new member — the brother of former Florida Gov. and one-time 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Neil Bush is joining the Texas senator's national finance team, according to a tweet from the Guardian's political reporter, Ben Jacobs.

A press release issued Tuesday indicated that 13 people in total had been added to Cruz's presidential campaign staff. “I am thrilled to welcome these new members to our outstanding team,” Cruz said in the press release.

This is Neil Bush's first foray into politics, reported the Hill. He is a businessman and philanthropist in the greater Houston area. Jeb Bush suspended his presidential campaign last month after not faring well in presidential primaries.

UPDATE: 1:57 p.m. EST — Texas Sen. ted Cruz took swipes Tuesday at Donald Trump for the real estate mogul treating his supporters “like subjects of a king.” Cruz was speaking during a press conference in North Carolina when he was asked if he would ask his supporters to take a pledge.

“I am asking for the support of the grassroots each and every day, but it's not about pledging support to one person,” Cruz said, Politico reported. “Anyone who thinks you’re making a loyalty oath to some candidate fundamentally misunderstands this process. Listen, no political candidate is going to make America great again.”

Voters in four states — Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii — were headed to the polls Tuesday to decide who they want as their party's nominee. The votes in Idaho and Hawaii are only for the Republican contest.

UPDATE: 1:20 p.m. EST — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is strengthening her lead ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders after picking up more super delegate endorsements as several states headed to the polls Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. Clinton has a delegate count of 1,134, about half the number needed to win the Democratic nomination, while Sanders has 499 delegates. Sanders, although trailing behind Clinton, won 3 states over the weekend. The new endorsements come as the Democratic candidates await tonight’s results in Mississippi and Michigan.

Hawaii is the only state set to vote Tuesday where the polls have not yet opened. The Republican caucus will start at 6 p.m. local time, or 11 p.m. EST, and remain open for two hours.

UPDATE: 12:43 p.m. EST — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has put a dent into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's primary polling lead, according to a new poll released Tuesday. Clinton is no longer enjoying a double-digit lead over Sanders the way she had for much of the primary season. Now, she is registering 53 percent of support from voters while Sanders has 44 percent, a poll from the Wall Street Journal and NBC News has found.

Clinton has likely noticed the inroads Sanders has made in narrowing her lead, which probably prompted her in part to say last night during a town hall event she would reach out to his supporters if she were to become the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

.@HillaryClinton hopes to "enlist" Sanders to reach his supporters if she's the nominee: https://t.co/Jvo68ouGqyhttps://t.co/4sl8SJymN9

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 7, 2016

UPDATE: 12:14 p.m. EST — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump abruptly canceled a series of morning TV appearances, opting instead for phone interviews because of what he said were technical difficulties, reported CNN. But the truth of the matter, CNN says, is that Trump was not satisfied enough with his physical appearance to go on live television.

An unidentifed source told CNN that Trump was overheard saying, “I don't like the way I look. Just tell them there's technical issues.”

The source continued: “He didn't like the shot. But he didn't realize that his microphone was on for everyone to hear.”

Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks went into damage control, and told CNNMoney: “Not only was the look terrible, because the lighting was all screwed up, but we weren't able to connect to half of the stations he was supposed to be on with. Honestly, it was a disaster.”

UPDATE: 11:46 a.m. EST — People campaigning in Idaho for Donald Trump were circulating an add the billionaire real estate mogul produced highlighting his stances on issues he says are important to state residents.

When asked Tuesday morning, one Idaho voter told the Idaho Statesman that she preferred Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over Trump, who she said was not “a decent human being.”

@tedcruz just finished up voting. You have some pretty adorable cheerleaders here in Idaho! pic.twitter.com/bspRYwKJq6

— Kalvin (@imagetskanky) March 8, 2016

UPDATE: 11:16 a.m. EST — There were no reported problems from Mississippi early on in the state's voting for its Democratic and Republican primaries, according to one precinct official in the city of Hattiesburg. “It's been smooth. We had people in line when we opened,” Paula Smithka, receiving and returning manager at the Thames School precinct told local news outlet the Clarion-Ledger.

Smithka said just one person had forgotten ID, “but she was going to go home and get it.”

Forty one Democratic delegates and 40 Republican delegates are at stake in the state.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant came out Monday and endorsed Ted Cruz, where the Texas senator was polling in a distant second place behind Donald Trump's commanding lead, according to Real Clear Politics.

UPDATE: 10:43 a.m. EST — Former Massachusetts Gov. and one-time Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has recorded robocall ads for Ohio Gov. John Kasich that will target residents in both Ohio and Michigan, the latter of which is holding presidential primaries for candidates from both major parties. Romney was born in Michigan and his father is a former governor there.

“Hello, this is Mitt Romney calling, and I'm calling on behalf Kasich for America,” Romney says on the robocall, according to Cleveland.com. “Today you have the opportunity in Michigan to vote for a Republican nominee for president. These are critical times that demand a serious, thoughtful commander-in-chief. If we Republicans were to choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished -- and I'm convinced Donald Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton. Please vote today for a candidate who can defeat HC and who can make us proud.”

Here's the first 30-secs of @MittRomney's radio ad for @JohnKasich in Michigan (it runs 45 secs): pic.twitter.com/ymoVenY2vV

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorpNBC) March 8, 2016

Romney also lent his voice in the same capacity for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's campaign, reported CNN.

.@MittRomney cuts get-out-the-vote robocalls for @marcorubio https://t.co/lpTgYLHiyo https://t.co/XWcMWShCAm

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 8, 2016

Romney recently made news by coming out vocally against GOP front-runner Donald Trump, including a speech during which the former governor denounced Trump's proposed policies and described what he said would be negative effects on the Republican Party moving forward.

Trump would go on to maintain a sizeable lead over his rival White House hopefuls, and a new poll found Romney's speech had absolutely no effect on how Republicans view the billionaire real estate mogul.

UPDATE: 10:14 a.m. EST — Polls opened in Idaho, where Republican front-runner Donald Trump maintains a strong lead. Among Republicans in the state, 30 percent favor Trump, while 19 percent favor Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, recent polling shows.

Polls also opened in Mississippi, where both Democrats and Republicans will vote. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton maintained the lead ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders according to surveys ahead of the event.

UPDATE: 9:17 a.m. EST — Polls opened in Michigan, where both Republican front-runner Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held leads in the double digits, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll. The state could be critical for Democratic contender Bernie Sanders to show his ability to become the nominee. Polling stations will close at 8 p.m. EST.

Original story:

Super Tuesday — take two — has begun.

Voters in four states — Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii — are set to head to the polls Tuesday to decide who they want as their party’s nominee. A total of 295 delegates are up for grab on the Democratic side, while 150 are at stake among Republicans. The primary votes in Idaho and Hawaii are only for the Republican primary contest.

Among the GOP, real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to maintain a steady national lead among rivals, but a gap between him and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has narrowed. Trump holds about 34 percent support, while Cruz holds 25 percent, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post survey. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, with 18 percent, has struggled to pull ahead of Cruz or Trump and is even trailing behind the Republican front-runner in his own home state by 8 percentage points.

On the Democratic side of the isle, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to command a lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. A Monmouth University poll released Monday showed Clinton up by 13 points. Analysts have said Tuesday’s vote in Michigan could be Sanders' “last, best chance” to show his viability against Clinton. Clinton is the favored candidate in Mississippi.

Although the race began with Clinton as the presumed nominee, Sanders has proved a more competitive contender than many had initially suspected. Sanders — a self-declared democratic socialist — has seen strong grassroots support build around his campaign, as he has vowed to create a “political revolution” by taking on big money in politics and ending a sharp wealth gap. Clinton, however, has a lengthy resume and has proved her ability to speak fluently on a range of issues.

The Republican race has been marked by outlandish remarks, particularly by Trump, who has remained in the media spotlight since stepping into the race last year. He has taken down political rivals, serving them sharp critique on the debate stage.

Check back for updates throughout the day.