Marco Rubio quits the presidential race after losing in his home state, Florida.
The result was a knockout blow for Rubio, whose communications team told newspapers on Monday that he would campaign later in the week in Utah – the site of a March 22 primary – but wouldn't commit to any times or places.
'After tonight it is clear that while we are on the right side, this year we will not be on the winning side,' Rubio told supporters in Miami.
By officially 'suspending' his campaign instead of folding it permanently, Rubio sent a signal that he's maintaining control over the 164 delegates who are pledged to him so far.
Those could give him leverage at the Republican National Convention in July if no one arrives with enough delegates to win the nomination.
'While it is not God's plan that I be president in 2016, or maybe ever,' he told supporters, 'and while today my campaign is suspended, the fact that I have even come this far is evidence of how special America truly is, and all the reason more why we must do all we can to ensure that this nation remains a special place.'
Donald Trump took another step closer to the Republican nomination on Tuesday night with crushing victories in Florida and Illinois, a narrower victory in North Carolina, cementing his GOP front-runner status and knocking Marco Rubio (pictured left) out of the race.
'I want to congratulate Marco Rubio on having run a really tough campaign,' Trump told a crowd of socialites and journalists at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. 'He's tough. He's smart, and he's got a great future.
'But I have to say, nobody has ever, ever in the history of politics, received the amount of negative advertising I have,' Trump carped.
Most of it, he claimed, was 'false, vicious, horrible'.
'It added up to over $40million' in Florida alone, Trump said. 'And you explain it to me, because I can't. My numbers went up!'
'We're going to do a lot of trips over the next month,' he pledged. 'And we're going to have a lot of great victories.'
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