Trump expands lead, Sanders upsets Clinton in Michigan

Donald Trump continued his victory streak by grabbing three more primaries on Wednesday despite facing hostility from Republicans in the race for the White House, while Democrat Hillary Clinton suffered a jolt as she lost to Bernie Sanders, infusing new life into his campaign.

Celebrating his victories, the 69-year-old controversial real estate tycoon criticised the establishment Republicans who have led recent attacks on him, including heavy negative advertising.

In Mississippi, he received the support of nearly 50 per cent of the Republican voters. He was followed a distant second by Senator Ted Cruz with 35.2 per cent of the votes counted.

In Michigan, Trump received 37.2 per cent of the Republican votes. To the surprise of many, Cruz was pushed to the third spot by the Ohio Governor John Kasich in the state who received 25.5 per cent of the votes. Cruz gained the support of 23.7 per cent of the votes.

Cruz won a Republican-only race in Idaho and Trump in Hawaii.

Clinton had an impressive win in the US State of Mississippi, as a result of which she was able to have more delegates in her kitty as against Sanders.

She won Mississippi by 88 per cent to 10 per cent, bolstered by her overwhelming support among African American voters.

However, her defeat in Michigan, which includes the auto Capital of Detroit, and its neighbourhood, at the hands of 74-year-old Sanders albeit by a narrow margin is an indication of the challenges she might face in the rest of her presidential campaign.

Clinton was expected to have an easy win in Michigan, where according to some polls she was leading by more than 20 points.

But when results came in, Sanders won the support of 50 per cent of the Democratic voters, while 48 per cent supported Clinton. The victory in Michigan has given Sander’s campaign a bounce ahead of the vital March 15 primaries in Florida, Ohio and three other big states.

People of Michigan have defied the pundits and pollsters, Sanders said in a statement.

Despite the upset in Michigan, Clinton still has a lead in the number of delegates, which is crucial for winning the party’s presidential nomination.

Some 21 states have so far had their say in the Democrat primaries and caucuses, with Clinton winning 12 and Sanders claiming nine.

Of the 4,763 delegates, Clinton needs 2,382 delegates to become the party’s first ever women presidential nominee. So far, she has support of 1,215 delegates, which includes 739 won through the primaries and 461 the support pledge by super delegates.

Sanders has 566 delegates, including 535 delegates through primary election.

Clinton has so far has won 12 states, while Sanders has won nine states.

In the overall race for delegates, Trump has 446 and Cruz has 347. Rubio has 151 delegates and Kasich has 54. He needs least 1,237 votes from a total of 2,472 delegates.

Trump has won in 14 states, out of a total of 20 primaries. Cruz has won seven, including his home state of Texas, the largest state to vote to date. Rubio has so far won just one state.

After registering impressive primary wins, Trump exuded confidence of easily defeating his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the November presidential elections.

“I am going to beat Hillary (Clinton). Hillary is going to be very, very easy to beat. She is a very easy target, if she is allowed to run. If the government does its job properly, she would not allow to run,” Trump told reporters.

“I am going to clean the slate,” Trump said.