Donald Trump wins three states and forces rival Marco Rubio to quit the Republican race for President

Donald Trump (top right) 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. In Missouri, the race went down to the wire between Cruz and Trump, with The Donald only 1,726 votes ahead (0.18 per cent) out of 620,000 when counting stopped early on Wednesday. The state was judged too close to call, and the tiny margin of less than one per cent means Cruz could challenge the result if it stands. Florida Sen. Rubio's suspended his White House campaign after surrendering his home state. Ohio Gov. John Kasich (bottom right) won in his home state, offsetting what might otherwise have been a devastating night for the rest of the GOP field.