Donald Trump has secured a huge victory over Nikki Haley in South Carolina, putting him on the verge of clinching the Republican presidential nomination.
The former president trounced his rival by 20 points in her home state, his fourth win in a row.
He ignored Ms Haley, who refused to bow out, and focused on the November election, where he is likely to face his successor in the White House.
“We’re going to stare Joe Biden down,” he said to his cheering supporters shortly after US media called the race on Saturday night. “He’s ruining our country – and we’re going to tell him ‘get out Joe, you’re fired’.”
Mr Trump praised his party’s “unity” after Saturday’s result, saying: “There’s never been a spirit like this. I have never seen the Republican Party so united.”
It was a contrast to his reaction to last month’s primary in New Hampshire, where he blasted Ms Haley for “acting like she won”.
Ms Haley, who was a popular two-term governor of South Carolina, congratulated her opponent on his win in her speech.
But she vowed to keep fighting, saying the 40% of the vote she got was “not some tiny group”.
“There are millions of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want a choice,” she said, stressing that her campaign was not about her own ego.
“I’m not giving up this fight when most Americans don’t like either Donald Trump or Joe Biden,” she added.
She pledged to stay in the race until at least Super Tuesday – 5 March – when 16 states will vote on the same day.
“I’m a woman of my word,” the former UN ambassador said. “We’re off to Michigan tomorrow, and we’re off to the Super Tuesday states all of next week.” The Trump campaign brushed off Ms Haley’s persistence in a statement on Saturday, saying that she was “delusional and out of touch with reality”.
The Trump campaign predicted that the former president would secure enough delegates to officially win the nomination within the next month.
Ms Haley has no clear way forward – her opponent has a huge lead in the delegate count and is ahead in all the polls.
But the Haley campaign is still alive, thanks to the money from wealthy donors. That cash flow has continued despite her slim chances.
Ms Haley raised $16.5m in January alone, campaign officials said. That was her biggest monthly haul so far, and much more than Mr Trump’s.
To show that he thinks the primary is over, Mr Trump gave his victory speech right after the race was called, not letting Ms Haley speak first as she had done in New Hampshire. Surrounded by nearly two dozen allies, including most of the state’s political leaders, he told a rowdy crowd: “This was a little sooner than we expected.” The former president still faces many legal woes, and will go on trial for the first of four criminal cases next month.
He also owes more than half a billion dollars, the total of two recent civil verdicts against him in New York – one for sexual assault and defamation, and one for business fraud.
