Nikki Haley has withdrawn from the race for the Republican nomination. Her exit means US voters face a choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in November's presidential election.
Wednesday 6 March 2024 18:04, UK
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If you want to catch up on the day's events, you can scroll down for minute-by minute updates as they happened, or get the full story here.
Elon Musk has said he will not be donating to the presidential candidates in this year's race.
He shared the update after meeting Donald Trump in Florida yesterday - according to
Mr Musk had previously endorsed Florida governor Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary race, before he pulled out of the race in January.
Trump critic and former House of Representatives speaker Liz Cheney has urged voters to "save our republic" and "ensure" Donald Trump does not get re-elected.
With Nikki Haley's exit from the race, US voters are set for a rerun of the 2020 election, with Mr Trump against Joe Biden.
Ms Cheney's post included a link to "The Great Task", a leadership political committee she heads up.
Joe Biden has seized on Nikki Haley's failure to endorse Donald Trump as she withdrew from the race - making a pitch for her supporters' votes.
"It takes a lot of courage to run for president - that's especially true in today's Republican Party, where so few dare to speak the truth about Donald Trump," Mr Biden says in a statement.
"Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump: about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin.
"Donald Trump made it clear he doesn't want Nikki Haley's supporters," he adds, before claiming "there is a place for them in my campaign".
He concedes that "I know there is a lot we won't agree on", however.
"But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America's adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground," he says.
"We all know this is no ordinary election and the stakes for America couldn't be higher.
"What unites Democrats and Republicans and Independents is a love for America."
The former presidential candidate has addressed concerns about Joe Biden's age as concerns are voiced about it.
Ms Clinton told her Instagram followers: "When you're lucky to live into your seventies or eighties, the difference of a few years doesn't matter all that much.
"Joe Biden and Donald Trump are effectively the same age. Let's use that as a baseline."
Joe Biden is 81, while Donald Trump is 77.
Ms Clinton said Mr Trump had "tried to overthrow our democracy, has been indicted 91 times, and says he wants to be a 'day one' dictator if elected again".
"I'm choosing Biden. How about you?" she said.
By James Matthews, US correspondent, reporting on Super Tuesday
"It's a match up between an elderly deteriorated man versus a best case scenario narcissist and, worst case, just a total sociopath. It seems like we're screwed either way."
That was the verdict from John, a musician from North Carolina, as news of Donald Trump's advance became clear. He didn't want his surname used as, he explained: "This could be a crazy place in a couple of years."
We met John inside a bowling alley in the town of Greensboro. I couldn't say it was a place on the edge of its seat for Super Tuesday results - as one paying customer told me: "I don't even know what Super Tuesday is but we've got Super Friday in here."
To be fair, the Republican nominee race has long been short on suspense, however significant. Biden versus Trump is part of the political furniture, in office and out. America's political fault line runs between the pair and that's never looked like changing, Nikki Haley or not.
"I'm just hoping another candidate shows up but I'm not very hopeful," said Michelle Linthicum, 52, who voted for Trump in 2016 but is having second thoughts today.
"I have a lot of mixed feelings. I did vote for him four years or eight years ago, but I really don't know that he is what we need in this country right now.
"I just think that he is such a polarising person. And right now this country has so far left and right that we really need somebody to bring the country together and I'll be honest, I don't know that either Biden or Trump are going to be the one that's going to do that."
Michelle isn't the only supporter that Donald Trump has lost since she, and they, backed him in 2016. They are the Republican-leaning voters who have taken a step back from him in this primary season and their number is a measure of the difficulty he has in reeling in an alienated support, beyond the MAGA base, that got him to the White House once but is resisting doing so a second time.
Mr Trump is addressing the challenge of reeling them back in, now that he's all but won the nomination.
In his Mar-a-Lago speech last night, it was Donald "the healer" who took to the stage, with talk of unity for Republicans and for the country.
The irony won't be lost on a party he ripped apart, in a country whose unity he has tested like few others.
Donald Trump has wasted no time in responding to Nikki Haley's announcement that she will be pulling out of the Republican race.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, he said: "Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries."
It's worth noting Vermont does not have party registration and all voters can choose which primary to vote in.
He claimed much of her money had come from Democrats, "as did many of her voters.
"At this point, I hope she stays in the 'race' and fights it out until the end!" he said.
The Republican nomination race is a battle to win a total of 2,429 delegates split across America's 50 states.
A candidate needs at least 1,215 to win and Donald Trump already has 995, with around half of the states still to vote.
Nikki Haley, meanwhile, only reached 89.
The rest of the states will finish their voting, but with Ms Haley dropping out, it is essentially just a walkthrough now for Trump.
His attention will turn to the big battle, the battle for the White House, where he is likely to face Joe Biden in a repeat of the last election.
That election is due to take place on 5 November, with three official presidential debates, organised by the Commission on Presidential Debates, set to take place across September and October.
Neither candidate is bound constitutionally to attend, but it is customary for them to, and without the aid of autocues, it is usually seen as a test for any prospective president.
Our US correspondent James Matthews says Nikki Haley's withdrawal paves the way for "the rerun that Americans don't want to see" between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Ms Haley ran a long campaign but it was "inevitable" she was going to pull out, Matthews says.
The results of Super Tuesday had "supercharged" Mr Trump and left his opponent with no choice.
So where will Ms Haley's voters go now?
Matthews says she was "backed by financial donors who saw weakness in Trump".
Her speech was interesting for what it didn't say, as there was "no ringing endorsement of Donald Trump of the kind he would have wanted to hear".
Instead, Republicans were told to make up their own mind.
Matthews says Ms Haley had carried behind her a "substantial" percentage of Republican voters who had turned away from Mr Trump.
The question now is whether Mr Trump can pull them back on board.
Moving away from tradition, Nikki Haley says she will not be endorsing Donald Trump as the Republican nominee.
She says he will "in all likelihood" be the nominee, and she congratulates him and wishes him well.
"I would wish anyone well who would be America's president," she says.
"I have always been a conservative Republican, and always supported the Republican nominee, but on this question... Margaret Thatcher gave some good advice when she said 'never just follow the crowd, always make up your own mind'."
Ms Haley adds it is "up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him, and I hope he does that".
