knocks Rubio out of the race Trump has a big night

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Donald Trump took a major step toward the Republican nomination Tuesday night, winning presidential primary races in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina (with Missouri declared too close to call after vote-counting was suspended late into the night). Trump’s landslide victory in winner-take-all Florida represented a stunning defeat for home-state Sen. Marco Rubio, who suspended his campaign for the White House.

But Ohio Gov. John Kasich eked out a win in his home-state primary, denying Trump a much hoped for victory in the other crucial winner-take-all state of the night and increasing the likelihood of a contested GOP convention this summer.

While Trump nearly ran the table Tuesday, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri (where he held a slim lead over Cruz) were not winner-take-all primaries, meaning that he will have to share the delegates awarded, once again prolonging the race for the GOP nomination.

And though Trump’s wins Tuesday looked to put him at least halfway to the 1,237 delegates he needs to claim the nomination, neither Kasich nor Cruz signaled any plans to leave the race. “Do you want a candidate who shares your values? Or a candidate who has spent decades opposing your values?” Cruz told his supporters at an election night rally in Houston.

For his part, Rubio did not immediately give up his delegates, delivering a concession speech that was more confrontational toward Trump than conciliatory. “The easiest thing to have done in this campaign [would have been] … to make people angrier, make people more frustrated,” Rubio said in a clear reference to Trump. “But I chose a different route, and I’m proud of that.

“In a year like this, that would have been the easiest way to win, but that is not what’s best for America,” Rubio added. “The politics of resentment against other people will not just leave us a fractured party, but they will leave a fractured nation … where people literally hate each other because they have different political opinions.”

Rubio’s slow decline over the last three months became precipitous after a series of crude attacks on Trump in late February failed spectacularly in the minds of many voters. Rubio’s broadsides against Trump during the Feb. 25 GOP debate in Houston spiraled down in the following days on the campaign trail into jokes about Trump wetting his pants and even a reference to the size of Trump’s penis, which the businessman later defended during a raucous debate in Detroit on March 3.

Sen. Marco Rubio, onstage with his family, tells supporters at a primary night rally in Miami that he is suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination. (Photo: Angel Valentin/Getty Images)Slideshow: March 15 presidential primaries >>>As he left his election night event Tuesday, Rubio pleaded with the electorate, “I ask the American people, do not give in to the fear. Do not give in to the frustration,” as supporters in the crowd wept. “America needs a vibrant conservative movement, but one that’s built on principles and ideas, not on fear, not on anger, not on preying on people’s frustrations.”Trump, speaking to supporters at his Mar-a-Lago Club here, was surprisingly cordial toward his former rival, whom he had repeatedly ridiculed as “Little Marco” in campaign speeches as recently as Monday. But Trump, clearly trying to appear more presidential as he gains in his bid to be the party nominee, congratulated Rubio for running a tough campaign. “He’s got a bright future,” Trump said.