MIAMI -- Hillary Clinton hopes she just put Bernie Sanders in the rearview window.
Notching win after win on Super Tuesday, Clinton will leave Sanders far behind in the battle to secure the 2,383 delegates needed to win the party's nomination. So far, Sanders has picked up just two victories, one in his home state of Vermont, and a second in Oklahoma where Sanders campaigned heavily and his campaign spent aggressively on ads.
A buoyant Clinton took the stage to claim victory just before 9 p.m. ET, saying "what a Super Tuesday" and declaring that Democrats across the country "voted to break down barriers so we can all rise together."
Hillary Clinton takes the stage in Miami to "Fight Song."— Juana Summers (@jmsummers) March 2, 2016
"Now this campaign moves forward to the Crescent City, the Motor City and beyond," Clinton told supporters in Miami, pitching ahead to the coming contests in Louisiana and Michigan. Florida's Democratic primary is also up ahead, with 214 delegates at stake on March 15.
America never stopped being great, Clinton says in a dig at Trump. We have to make America whole. Crowd chants "USA, USA, USA."— Juana Summers (@jmsummers) March 2, 2016
Even before she trounced Sanders across the states that held Democratic nominating contests on Tuesday, Clinton had already started to shift shifted her focus to a likely general election matchup with Donald Trump.
At campaign stops in Massachusetts and Virginia ahead of Super Tuesday, Clinton barely mentioned her Democratic rival, instead honing in on the GOP field.
Clinton, who admitted earlier Tuesday that Trump "could be on the path" to the Republican nomination, said Tuesday night that the race for the Republican nomination had hit new lows.
"It's clear tonight that the stakes in this election have never been higher, the rhetoric that we're hearing on the other side has never been lower," Clinton said.
Clinton calls for more "love and kindness" https://t.co/DRILqG7S3T— Mashable News (@MashableNews) March 2, 2016
While the former secretary of state didn't mention Trump once by name, she made an overt allusion to Trump, saying that "America never stopped being great."
"We have to make America whole again," she said.
While some Clinton backers were anxious, particularly after a crushing defeat by Sanders in the New Hampshire primary, Tuesday's results are likely to silence many Clinton critics. She was already riding high after wins in South Carolina as well as Nevada's caucuses.
The former secretary of state is on track to win a hefty portion of the 865 delegates in 11 states, adding to her wide lead over Sanders.
Clinton began Tuesday with 546 delegates, including super delegates, while Sanders had 87. A candidate must win 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.
Sanders wins on Tuesday were fewer. Though he picked up an early victory in Vermont, the state has few delegates in contrast to the bigger states that Clinton decisively won on Tuesday.
Speaking to supporters early Tuesday in Vermont, Sanders declared that he will pick up hundreds of delegates on Tuesday.
"Thirty-five states remain and let me assure you that we are going to take our fight for economic justice, for social justice, for environmental sanity, for a world of peace, to every one of those states." Sanders said.
At times, Sanders' speech veered toward the personal as he thanked supporters in Essex Junction, Vermont, saying, "I've been all over this country, but the truth is, it is great to come home."
"I am so proud to bring Vermont values to the White House," he said.
Chain of people embracing in the back of the Sanders sing along. pic.twitter.com/KOc2OpnxUm— Megan Specia (@meganspecia) March 2, 2016
Sanders, an unexpectedly tough challenger to Clinton, has vowed to fight on until Democrats hold their party's convention in July, hoping to pick off wins in more favorable contests later in March, including Nebraska, Kansas and Maine.
From Vermont, he'll embark on a frenzied sprint of campaigning that will take him to Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, Missouri and Ohio.
Sanders has said that he wants to take his fight for the nomination all the way to the Democratic party's convention in July.
The Vermont senator, who is still drawing large crowds and raking in campaign contributions at an impressive clip, has little incentive to fold. Just Monday, his campaign said he had raised more than $42 million in February, an influx of cash that can easily fuel him into the next phase of the primary.
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