It is the biggest night yet in the president ial race with a slew of contact that will likely push donald trump to the brink of clinching the gop nomination. We are tracking every single vote, including in North Carolina, where right now people are lined up to cast ballots on this pivotal night in the fight for the white house. Welcome to cnns lives Super Tuesday coverage. Im erin burnett in new york, and im jake tapper in washington were less than an hour away from the first major round of Poll Closings and the first results on this historymaking normshattering primary night, donald trump, former president , now a criminal defendant four times over hopes to continue his extraordinary winning streak. And the night very close to locking up his third republican president ial nomination. Thats possible because the race for the white house is Going National tonight with 16 States Holding contests and a whopping total of 865 delegates at stake for the republicans. Thats more than onethird of all republican delegates. The quays, obviously to winning the nomination. Now, trump is hoping to sweep those delegates as he looks to build this insurmountable lead over his last remaining gop opponent, nikki haley, and further tightening his grip on the Republican Party. Haley still fighting they can openings to come to trumps support. Were going to be closely watching to see if she can pull off any upsets this evening. And if so, where all of this likely setting the stage for a widely expected biden trump rematch in november. Were going to keep tabs on President Biden scorecard in democratic primaries tonight is he moves toward making his nomination official he just picked up his first win this evening and the democratic caucuses in iowa. Now heres a roadmap of whats going to happen Tonight Seven Eastern Voting Ends in virginia and vermont. A halfhour later, holding places close in North Carolina at eight eastern, were going to look for results from oklahoma, alabama, tennessee, massachusetts, and may at a 30, we focus on arkansas at nine eastern all poll of polls close in texas, colorado, and minnesota, texas has the second biggest pool of delegates tonight at 11 Eastern Voting will end in california. Thats the top delegate prize in the nation. Also in the utah republican caucuses, alaska book cap the night with polls closing at midnight eastern. And our correspondents there fanned out across the United States of america coverings and i contests covering the candidates. First, lets go to cnns Kristen Holmes, genes at maralago in palm beach, florida, where donald trump is hosting a Super Tuesday watch party. And kristen, what is the trump team looking for this evening . Well, jake, the trump team understands that hes not going to crocs that delegate threshold to become the presumptive nominee tonight, but they are hoping for two things. One, that he gets enough delegates tonight so that he can actually reach that milestone as early as next week to become the republican nominee. And two, that he wins by such a definitive margin that it puts pressure, your pressure on nikki haley to drop out. Now, theyre not waiting for that. Theyve already pivoted to the general election in tonights contests are really going to give them some insight into where and how they spend their resources in a general election. One thing i want to point out, its striking to me to see the last time i was out of political events in this very ballroom at maralago was when donald trump announced back in 2022 that was a very different time. Almost nobody showed up. There were no congressional members. I was getting calls from allies who now, by the way, work for the campaign, who were calling me to say that it was embarrassing that he couldnt believe that he was actually announcing that this is going to go nowhere and you should just bow out gracefully. Now her looking at a night, what she is on the cusp of potentially becoming the gop nominees. A lot has changed last yearandahalf, and weve also started to see republicans coalesce behind the former president , those same republicans who had not so nice things to say when he announced his candidacy. All right. Kristen holmes in palm beach. Lets go into kylie atwood now, whos in charleston, South Carolina . Recovering the campaign of nikki haley. Kylie, what do we know about governor haleys plans tonight . Expectations tonight and her plans Going Forward well its a nikki haley is monitoring the results here in South Carolina, her home states not one of the states that is voting tonight, but she has made no explicit promises about keeping her campaign a after tonights results are tallied. And that is a very different tactic. Then she took a head of the primaries that we have seen and in the major previous contests in iowa, she talked about going to New Hampshire where a return into a twoperson race with former President Trump in New Hampshire. She talked about going to South Carolina, her sweet home state, her campaign put it out a memo talking about Fertile Ground in Super Tuesday states and then in South Carolina days before that primary, she said she wasnt going to go anyway fair. No matter what happened in her home state, saying that she would compete through Super Tuesday today. We dont have any future Campaign Events on the schedule for her. We dont have any Campaign Memos talking about future sweet spots for her campaign. And we should note her Campaign Points out its not apples to apples there are more than a dozen states vote putting her campaign is really looking through a lot of the results that are coming in tonight, tying, trying to digest all of that. This doesnt mean that shes going to end her campaign necessarily tonight. But what it does mean jake, is that tonight will very clearly dictate what happens to her campaign after Super Tuesday all right. Kylie atwood in charleston, South Carolina. Lets check in with one of the key states tonight, North Carolina, where we find Dianne Gallagher at a Polling Place in cornelius, which is ten outside charlotte. Dianne, youre talking to voters in cornelius, North Carolina. What are you hearing from them . Jake, abortion, education immigration and democracy. Those are the main issue is that voters here and cornelius tell me have inspired them to come out for the primary today and you can see they are outright now, we have quite aligned that his building now look North Carolina law does not allow me to go up and speak to them in line. Ive got to stay about as far back, but weve seen steady turnout throughout the day here. And im going to bring in a voter right now who actually just finished her voting casting her ballot with me now is Alan Rosenfeld and elon, which ballot did you pull the democrat, the republican. The republican . What did you vote for at the top of the ticket . At the top of the ticket, i voted for Chris Christie and it wasnt that im pro Chris Christie, but i feel like he is the least undesirable of all of the candidates. Im from the northeast, i know what hes done. Hes articulate, he is smart im not a supporter, but i feel weve got to do something different. Why not nikki haleys since shes still in the race a couple of things. I didnt like what she said about slavery i didnt like that she lost in her own state. That doesnt speak well what will you do in november . Because it does look like at this point based off delegates, donald trump is probably going to be the republican nominee. Who will you vote for in november . I will. If hes on the ballot for any party, i will vote for robert f. Kennedy jr. And otherwise, ill see, but i would not vote for trump or biden. I would either abstain or vote for Somebody Else. And lastly, North Carolina was a very long downballot right now, including a very watched nationally governors race. Who did you vote for on the republican ballot when it comes to governor here . I dont even remember the persons name. It was a top one. I wanted to make sure that Mark Robinson doesnt win because he is a hateful sarcastic, nasty person and i just said i must vote against him. Thank you so much. Ellyn, for your time. I appreciate you exercising your right to vote today. Im going to send it back to you guys. But again, as you can see, lots of people out here in North Carolina finishing up polls close at 07 30. All right. Dianne gallagher and cornelius, North Carolina with a little vox populi and were getting an early read on whos turning out to vote in virginia . North carolina. Two key contests tonight. Lets go check in with David Chalian when it comes to what were getting from the exit polls, what do you what are you learning . Yeah, jake, were trying to understand what is the makeup of the electorate in these two early east coast states, virginia, North Carolina. One of the questions we ask, him, do you consider yourself part of the Maga Movement in virginia only 31 said yes, they consider themselves part of the Maga Movement of these are preliminary numbers, dont change as the night goes on, but well see because thats about as low as weve seen. All nomination season long, 59 in virginia say no, they dont consider themselves part of the Maga Movement in North Carolina. Its a more magafied electorate 39 say they are part of the Maga Movement. 54 say they are not. Then we asked, what are your feelings if indeed donald trump wins the nomination . So in virginia 62 of republican primary voters today say they would be satisfied if donald trump wins the nomination, that is similar to what we saw New Hampshire, which he won, but wasnt his best date 36 would say dissatisfied in North Carolina, it just seems like friendly or territory for trump in this republican primary tonight, 74 percent, threequarters said theyd be satisfied with trump is the nominee in North Carolina, 24 say theyd be dissatisfied. Jake, if im sitting in Trump Campaign headquarters, im looking at those dissatisfied chunks and saying, how much work do i have to do to get those voters on board with trump between now and november yeah. Because those are two states he needs to pick up of North Carolina. He needs to maintain. And of course, virginia, hed like to pick up David Chalian. Thanks so much. Well be checking in with you throughout the night. John king at the magic wall. Lot of delegates, lot of states. Lets take a look. And as we count them, both, that voter with diana, what you just went through a david should go hi, jess through the night because if you look at this, this is where we begin. This is impressive. You cannot deny this. Donald trump is on a march to the republican nomination. You have to go here. You can just barely see it. The District Of Columbia as nikki haleys only win and donald trump not only has 276 delegates to begin the night, but if you look at it that way, jake, if your teams getting 83 of the available scores than youd say wow, thats pretty good and its impressive. However, theres weaknesses beneath the strikes and thats what you watched as you go through these states. And so what do we look for . Lets just come back to the Delegate Count. Were going to get the early results on the east coast. So you start in vermont. If you go back to 2016, this was not Donald Trumps best state. He won vermont, but just barely john kasich, you see a lot of the light pink thats John Kasich A Little Bit of marco rubio in this state right there. Vermont does have a much less trumpy Republican Party. So youre watching number one, have they warmed to donald trump or number two, if nikki haley does well, maybe she wins, whereas she winning. And what does that tell us . She was endorsed by the republican governors, by the republican governor who is not a trump fan. Now again, its one of 15 states. So if nikki haleys doing well in vermont tonight, they cant throw a party in charleston. Its something you want. Any wins you can get. But if you look at this map and you go west, trump is wired in most of these states, but you do look in these early results just like in haleys home state of South Carolina, right . Thats a huge trump win. But what happened . Hes weaker in the suburbs, right . Thats one thing we have seen consistently since 2016, narrowly won ive, worked against Hillary Clinton, has been weakened the suburb since. So when we get the votes later tonight in virginia, where we gonna look right, she wanted the District Of Columbia. Youre going to look up here because you can bet, right now, thats going to be trump, right . Thats rural small town america, thats Trump Country. The question is, is he solidifying, is at least stabilize . Isaac in the suburbs . Or does she continue to beat him in the suburbs because it wont stop them from winning the nomination. But thats what theyll study in the Biden Campaign tonight. So youre looking for clues. Theres no doubt though if you come out to the mad map and we can switch over here for just one second. If you look at this again donald trump has weaknesses, some glaring weaknesses, and yet this is an impressive march to the nomination. If things go tonight, if he continues to win delegates at the rate, the pace hes been winning them so far, right . Theres where you start the night. The 276 by the time were done with california tonight, he could be way up here and alaska. He could be about 100 delegates shy of claiming pinching 1,215. So this night is absolutely critical to the Trump Campaigns math. They want to get this over with both symbolically and mathematically, and move on to running against biden if they have a very good night where were standing here next tuesday, its more and more than likely that donald trump crosses the line. So tonight is, this is where he starts, but with, as we go down national, as you said, the right way to put it as the primary Campaign Goes national tonight, donald trump, hes already made a big statement tonight. He gets a chance to make a giant statement about his grip on todays Republican Party. All right, john king, thanks so much. Dana bash. I mean, this night is pivotal as to what the next eight months are going to look like. No question about it. And just to bounce off of what john was talking about and what those exit polls showed. One of the questions and i should say im here with my friends and colleagues at tremendous anchors and reporters and were all talking to our sources about what to expect tonight. On that question of some potential weaknesses that donald trump, lets just start with trump and his campaign are looking at the question of virginia. Lets just start there. The Trump Campaign has an entire list of specific counties in specific states that are voting tonight looking at what the voters are going to do. Just for example, virginia spots will vanish spots, obanya county, virginia. Theyre looking at that marshall county, alabama sebastian county, arkansas on the list goes on and on. Why are they looking at these specific counties to see what they can learn for the next eight months. Pivotal Swing Counties, pivotal voters that make up the electorate. There. Yeah, they dont expect to be surprised by the outcome tonight, but theyre looking for little hints and what john mentioned, their weaknesses potentially for these candidates and maybe not trump himself is looking at those, but certainly his Political Team is, and they expect that hes going to cruise through the Super Tuesday that is not really anything thats been up for surprise. Thats why theres hundreds of people gathered at mara lago right now. But the one thing that they are hoping to do tonight, and one thing im told repeatedly that isnt bothering trump is how on all of these election nights the conversation is often about his big victories, but then it shifts typically when it was in iowa, New Hampshire,