Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton face another opportunity to pull away from their rivals in the so-called Super Tuesday primaries, their biggest test yet.
It will be a delegate-rich dash across the country that could accelerate their march toward the general election on November 8.
Voters from Vermont to Colorado, Alaska to American Samoa and several states in between are heading to polling places and caucus sites on the busiest day of the 2016 primaries.
The first polls opened in Vermont at 5am (10:00 GMT) and the final polls were due to close 19 hours later in Alaska.
The contests come at a turbulent moment for Republicans as they grapple with the prospect of Trump becoming the party’s nominee.
Rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are engaged in a frantic effort to stop the billionaire – with Rubio in particular lobbing surprisingly personal attacks – but it is unclear whether they have made their move too late.
“If we nominate him [Trump], let me just tell you a vote a for Donald Trump tomorrow is literally a vote for Hillary Clinton in November and it cannot happen,” said Florida Senator Rubio at a campaign event in Jenks, Oklahoma, on Monday.
Texas Senator Cruz attacked Trump’s position on illegal immigrants. The businessman has called for deporting all illegal immigrants and has said he would get the Mexican government to pay for the building of a wall along the US-Mexico border.
Cruz said Trump should clarify comments made to the New York Times following reports from news website BuzzFeed which said Trump had suggested to the Times’ editorial board in an off-the-record briefing on January 5 that he would most likely not stand by his immigration proposals if elected president.
The Texas senator also attacked Trump’s past campaign donations at an event in Houston.
“You don’t get to fund open-border Democrats for four decades and then suddenly when you run for president discover and announce you’re for securing the border,” Cruz said.
The Texas senator’s event was interrupted numerous times by protesters chanting “Cruz, bad for Texas, bad for the country.” He called the first display of protesters “Bernie Sanders supporters” but after several interruptions the demonstrators were removed.
Opinion polls showed Trump was likely to consolidate his status as favourite to win the Republican nomination.
On Super Tuesday, 595 delegates are at stake for Republicans. For Democrats, there are 1,004.
Considering Republican candidates need 1,237 delegates to win the party’s nomination and Democrats need 2,383, Super Tuesday is one of the most important days in the US presidential election.
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