Businessman Donald Trump won the Arkansas Republican presidential primary, The Associated Press said Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas finished second ahead of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton easily defeated U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, winning the Arkansas Democratic primary for the second time in eight years.

In unofficial returns, with 2,394 of 2,509 precincts reporting, the vote was:

Trump 129,577

Cruz 120,886

Rubio 99,187

Ben Carson 22,637

John Kasich 14,852

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who suspended his presidential campaign after finishing ninth in the Iowa caucuses, had 4,537 votes. Seven others who are no longer in the race split the remaining votes.

On the Democratic side, with 2,394 of 2,509 precincts recorded, the vote was:

Clinton 141,544

Sanders 63,508

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley 2,666

O'Malley suspended his race before Tuesday's election.

Tennessee attorney John Wolfe, Florida retiree James Valentine and California businessman Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente collected the rest.

Officials said 208,000 people voted early, double the number that cast early ballots in 2012.

Sixty-two percent of the early voters selected the Republican ballot.

Turnout on the day of the election also was strong, officials said.

Tuesday evening, Republicans gathered at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock to watch the returns.

As the evening progressed, they saw Trump winning in state after state.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said Arkansans responded to the New Yorker's message.

"Donald Trump did well in [Arkansas] tonight because his message of shaking up the Washington to Wall Street axis of power is resonating with voters across the state," she said in an email.

Rubio was leading in Pulaski and Benton counties; Cruz was ahead in at least 14 others, but Trump dominated most of the state. Trump, Huckabee Sanders noted, was "doing really well and holding strong in the majority of the rural counties."

State Rep. Bob Ballinger, the co-chairman of Cruz's campaign in Arkansas, said he was disappointed that his candidate didn't carry the state.

"The reality is we're running against somebody who is not a Republican and has no business running in a Republican primary and definitely has no business winning a Republican primary," he said.

His candidate, the winner of the Texas and Oklahoma primaries, is the only one who can beat Clinton, he said.

"We need to call on the other candidates, for the sake of the Republican Party, for the sake of our country, to get out of the race so we have the chance to beat Donald Trump and prevent what would be probably one of the most devastating presidencies in the history of our country," the Hindsville Republican said.

But Rubio's Arkansas campaign chairman, state Sen. Bart Hester, said Tuesday was a better night for Rubio than for the senator from Texas, pointing to Cruz's losses in a number of other Southern states.

"What's important tonight is Cruz has flopped. His whole campaign was based on the SEC primary, and he flopped. ... Rubio just had to do well, and he's done that. Cruz had to dominate, and he did not," he said.

The Cave Springs Republican predicted that Rubio would win the March 15 Florida primary. "At that point, it will be a two-man race for the presidency and hopefully the Republican Party will unite behind the one candidate that can defeat Hillary Clinton and that's Marco Rubio," he said.

While Republicans had to wait to see who won, there was little suspense among Democrats.

Clinton supporters, gathered at Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom in Little Rock, were upbeat the entire evening as they watched state after state swept by their party's front-runner.

Many of those in the room had served as Arkansas Travelers, journeying to New Hampshire or Tennessee to campaign for Clinton.

Sheila Bronfman, who helped spearhead the effort, welcomed news that Clinton had carried Arkansas.

"I'm just thrilled. I couldn't be happier," she said. "We've been working hard for it, and we've still got a long way to go, [we're] not taking anything for granted, there's a lot of states left."

A Clinton victory is good for Arkansas, she said. "She's one of us. She knows all of her towns and places. She's going to help us even more."

Sarah Scanlon, state director for the Sanders campaign, said her candidate made inroads in Arkansas and fared well in other contests.

"The reality is, we are actually walking away with a number of delegates," she said. "We did a phenomenal job in Oklahoma, we've done a great job in Colorado, and it looks like Minnesota can actually go our way," Scanlon said. "We are marching on. ... We're going to keep going."

No major pollster, no nationally recognized pundit had predicted a Sanders victory in the state where Clinton once lived, practiced law and served as first lady.

Current and former Democratic officeholders had rallied around her, including former U.S. Sens. David Pryor, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln as well as ex-Gov. Mike Beebe and ex-Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.

Clinton had beaten Barack Obama in the state's 2008 presidential primary, claiming 70 percent of the vote. This time, her margin was again overwhelming.

Sanders never visited the state. Clinton, on the other hand, stopped in Pine Bluff two days before the primary, drawing hundreds of cheering supporters.

The win guaranteed that the state would send a large, pro-Clinton slate of delegates to the Democratic National Convention on July 25-28 in Philadelphia.

Democratic leaders predicted that having a Clinton atop the ticket would boost their party's chances in November.

Republicans, on the other hand, said Tuesday's high turnout reflected Republican enthusiasm and boded well for the fall campaign.

The three leading Republican candidates all fought fiercely to win in Arkansas, visiting the state repeatedly.

The competition intensified as Trump rolled up victories in the New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina primaries.

With Trump ahead in the delegate count and leading in most "Super Tuesday" states, the Natural State became a crucial battleground, especially in the closing days of the primary campaign. Rubio stopped in the state three times in the final nine days, holding rallies in Little Rock, Conway and Rogers.

On the weekend before Super Tuesday, Cruz spoke in Little Rock and worshipped at a Springdale church.

Trump made one final stop Saturday, speaking at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill.

A Section on 03/02/2016