(Photo by Gage Skidmore - CC BY 2.0)

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

(Photo by Casey Kuhn - KJZZ)

Voters were still in line at South Mountain Community Center in Phoenix after 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

(Photo by Carrie Jung - KJZZ)

Supporters of Hillary Clinton in downtown Phoenix watching the poll results come in.

(Photo by Jude Joffe-Block - KJZZ)

Trump supporters gathered at Chambers Bar in downtown Phoenix.

PHOENIX — Donald Trump rolled to victory Tuesday in the Arizona Republican Presidential Preference Election, capitalizing on his harsh border rhetoric and endorsement of immigration hard-liners to secure the state's rich delegate prize.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton fended off an aggressive challenge by Bernie Sanders, who went all-out to turn around his campaign in Arizona after getting swept a week ago by the former first lady and secretary of state.

Wait times of more than an hour were the norm throughout the Valley on Tuesday. Voters were still waiting in line upward of two hours after the polls were supposed to close in Phoenix.

Those who got in line by 7 p.m. were still able to vote, but even after the Associated Press called victories for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, residents like Clinton-supporter David Hasan stuck around South Mountain Community Center to get their vote in.

“I’m still gonna vote for her, yeah. Why? Because, so that I can feel that I made a difference even though everyone else did too," said Hasan.

Trump supporter and former Marine Chad Doty didn’t leave even after victory was declared for Trump and Clinton.

“It’s not my first election but it’s one that I hope will actually be able to count. Prior military, being gone all the time, you don’t always get a chance to vote,” said Doty.

Former Arizona Corporation Commissioner Sandra Kennedy spent some of the afternoon at the South Mountain Community Center. Kennedy blamed the waits on the county’s decision to slash the number of polling places from 200 in 2012 — to 60 this year.

"For this election, for this type of election that’s gotten this much coverage, you only have 60 polling places open? That’s just too far reaching for me. Unacceptable," said Kennedy.

That number was chosen by the Maricopa County Elections Department in response to increasing numbers of early voters, as well as independent voters — who couldn’t vote in Tuesday’s election.

Elizabeth Bartholomew, a spokeswoman with the department, said while it’s unfortunate people have had to wait today, the number of polling locations was determined by past turnout and increasing numbers of mail-in ballots.

"Voter turnout is through the roof, and we are so thrilled with that, because in past preference elections, there has been fairly low turnout," Bartholomew said.

RELATED: Many People Vote Early In Arizona's Presidential Preference Election

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Trump made three campaign appearances before raucous crowds in Arizona, where GOP primaries have long been dominated by the immigration debate. The debate peaked in 2010 with the state's passage of the anti-immigration law known as SB1070 but waned in recent years after business leaders tired of the backlash and series of legal challenges.

Trump revived the debate nationally after declaring he would build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and make Mexico pay for it. He called Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers and vowed to forcibly deport the 11 million people living in the country illegally. He sought the endorsement of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who made a name for himself as an immigration fighter but was forced by a federal judge to quit enforcing immigration laws after being found to have violated people's constitutional rights.

Trump supporters gathered at Chambers bar in downtown Phoenix cheered when the results came in saying that Trump had won Arizona. While Trump’s win wasn’t much of a surprise, the margin of his victory was.

Arizona Treasurer Jeff DeWit, who serves as Trump’s Arizona campaign chairman, said he was expecting Trump to win by 12 or 13 points. But as of Tuesday night, it looked like Trump’s lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz could be almost double that.

“I think this is showing where the country is at,” DeWit said. “It is time to rally behind Donald Trump, he is the person who can unite the party, get us all together so we can win in the Fall. It is time, it is time right now for all Republicans to get behind Donald Trump and let’s get this done.”

Trump won all 58 Arizona delegates and DeWit said he believes Trump is in good shape to win the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

Sheriff Arpaio, who has stumped for Trump at his rallies, was also celebrating on Tuesday night.

“I am very happy. Happy for Donald Trump, happy for America and happy for Arizona,” Arpaio said. “He doesn’t need all of these politicians or money, he goes right to the people, and the people of Arizona tonight have spoken.”

Gov. Jan Brewer also endorsed Trump.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz came in second to Donald Trump in Arizona’s winner-take-all presidential preference election.

About 30 of his supporters gathered Tuesday night at Buffalo Wild Wings in Phoenix to watch the results. But few reacted outwardly when cable news outlets started calling the election in Trump’s favor.

Constantin Querard is the Arizona state director for Cruz campaign. While it’s frustrating to lose the Grand Canyon State, he said Cruz is built for the long haul, and will eventually beat Trump.

“You aren’t going to have any trouble getting the Republican party to rally around Ted Cruz. He’s like our living platform. What we believe as a party, is what he’s done," said Querard.

He said the early ballots going out around the time of the Nevada caucus kept this from being a three-person race.

"Back then obviously you're running against six, seven, eight candidates. I think the early numbers showed Marco Rubio had 50,000 votes. You'd love to have most of those. Obviously that changes the race. Other candidates, Carson and those guys have a lot of votes," said Querard.

Following deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday, Cruz called on the Senate to suspend taking in refugees from countries where ISIS or Al Qaeda control large amounts of territory. He’ll face Trump again on April fifth in Wisconsin where there are 42 delegates at stake.

In the Democratic race, Sanders courted Latinos, tribal members and young voters in a series of Arizona appearances and drew 7,000 supporters to a Phoenix event.

"We always knew Arizona was gonna be a tough state but, you know, lucky for us everything is proportional. We’ll continue to gain votes tonight. It’s gonna be a big springboard leading into even better states for Bernie," said Chuck Rocha with the Sanders campaign.

Many of his supporters are focusing on the positives. Several people at Sanders' Arizona watch party at DeSoto Central Market in Phoenix said they felt his campaign is still making an important impact, including Daryl Vaughn of Gilbert.

"The effort that people have put into Bernie’s campaign across the country really does help get his message out overall," said Vaughn.

He boldly took on Arpaio over his immigration crackdowns in an attempt to win over Latinos who have years of frustration over the lawman's policies. He made an appearance on the Navajo Nation — a rarity in presidential politics — and his wife toured a sacred Apache site at the center of a bitter fight over a copper mine.

But Clinton had the strong backing of the Democratic political establishment and aired TV ads touting the support of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head five years ago at a Tucson political event. Former President Bill Clinton also came to the state to campaign for his wife.

The race was called for Clinton at roughly 8:00 p.m. local time. The news broke to an energetic crowd of supporters gathered at BLISS/reBAR in Phoenix.

Tim Hogan, a Clinton campaign spokesman, said campaign staff and volunteers for Clinton’s strong performance.

"The campaign is going to continue to fight for every vote, so as you look forward on this map of the Democratic nomination, we’re going to continue to work really hard. She has a healthy delegate lead right now but we’re going to compete in this race," said Hogan.

The Democratic race is not winner-takes-all in Arizona, so both candidates will win delegates. Ten Democratic superdelegates can vote for the candidate of their choice.

KJZZ reporters Matthew Casey, Jude Joffe-Block, Carrie Jung, Casey Kuhn, Stina Sieg, Sarah Ventre and the Associated Press contributed to this report.