With over 40% of delegates decided on Tuesday, Senator McCain, 71, took victories in nine states - New York, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, Delaware, Illinois, Oklahoma and his home state of Arizona.
His main rival, the former Mormon governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, won in Massachusetts, Georgia, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, as well as in Mormon-dominated Utah where he claimed some 89% of the vote.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee took delegates in West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas.
"We've won some of the biggest states in the country," McCain later told supporters in Phoenix. He now has 613 delegates to 269 for Romney and 190 for Huckabee. 1,191 delegates are necessary to gain the Republican Party presidential nomination at the party convention in September.
Both Romney and Huckabee pledged to remain in the race, however, with Romney telling supporters in Massachusetts that, "We're going all the way to the White House."
The reality on the ground would, however, suggest otherwise. Even though surprisingly little has been made of Romney's Mormon background, his religion, which claims that God lives near a planet called Kolob, looks to have nevertheless proved a major disadvantage in his bid to become U.S. president, with one-third of Republican voters describing themselves in exit polls as white, born-again, evangelical Christians.
As for the Democrats, Super Tuesday saw both Barack Obama, looking to become the first black U.S. president, and Hilary Clinton, seeking to become the country's first female president, trade victories in their bids to make history.
Hilary Clinton won in eight states - Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Arizona, as well as in the state with the most delegates on offer, California.
Obama took 11 states - Georgia, Illinois, Delaware, Alabama, Utah, North Dakota, Kansas, Connecticut, Minnesota, Idaho and Colorado.
The results saw Hilary Clinton move slightly ahead in the race for the Democrat Party nomination. The wife of former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Hilary now has 845 delegates to 765 for Obama. 2,025 delegates will secure the party's nomination.
"I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debate about how to leave this country better off for the next generation," Clinton said in New York.
"Our time has come. Our movement is real. And change is coming to America," Obama told supporters in Chicago.
