“Thank you MS!” tweeted the billionaire real estate mogul as results came in from the southern state.
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Clinton, 68, won in MS, but the victory in MI by her opponent from Vermont was expected to prolong the fight to pick a candidate.
Republican front-runner Donald Trump racked up primary wins in the big prize of MI and in MS on Tuesday, brushing off a week of blistering attacks from the party’s establishment and expanding his lead in the White House nominating race.
“We are better than what we are being offered by the Republicans”, Clinton declared.
Sanders’ upset win in MI over the front-runner put a swift end to expectations that Clinton could quickly wrap up their duel for the party’s nomination and turn her attention to Republicans. When superdelegates are included, Clinton leads 1,223 to 574, more than halfway to the 2,383 needed to win the Democratic nomination. Cruz has 315 delegates, followed by Rubio who has 151 delegates. Sanders would need to pull off “lopsided margins” in coming contests to catch up and win the nomination, he added. He won 65 delegates while she won 58. The percentage of people 25 or older with a bachelor’s degree, at 26%, is in line with those three states.
That’s how many delegates she won from the day’s two contests, in MI and Mississippi.
Those deciding in the last few days in MI split their votes between Cruz and John Kasich – and decidedly not Rubio. By comparison, Sanders’ narrow victory in MI won him eight delegates more than Clinton got. More than half the voters in both parties described trade as a job killer.
No one disputes that Sanders had a great night, but some of those crunching the delegate numbers say his candidacy still doesn’t stand a chance against Clinton.
Love for Sanders: “Bernie Sanders, by winning in MI, scored a massively important symbolic victory that will likely re-energize his campaign and extend the Democratic presidential race for weeks, if not months”. He could continue to lose some primaries and caucuses in “closed” elections where only Republicans can vote – states where he has performed weakest – and still win the nomination by running up totals in the Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Coast and industrial Midwest where some analysts believe Cruz will struggle.
Trump has built his campaign on pledges to scrap worldwide trade deals and do more to protect American workers from foreign competition, tapping the same groundswell of discontent that propelled Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders to victory in the Midwestern state on Tuesday.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had so many disgusting, terrible things said about me in one week – $38 million worth of awful lies, but that’s okay”, he said at a news conference in Jupiter, Florida noting the efforts to take him down have not been successful.
“Change can not take place without political participation”, another tweet read, encouraging MS and MI voters to visit the polls.
Bernie Sanders acknowledges his supporters upon his arrival at a campaign rally on Tuesday in Miami. At least 8 in 10 voters in each partys primary said they were anxious about where the American economy is heading, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.
Kasich, 63, of OH, and Rubio, 44, of Florida, could throw a wrench into Trump’s delegate stash if they win in their home states next week.
Five percent of voters said they were undecided. Ted Cruz, received a boost Wednesday with an endorsement from former GOP rival Carly Fiorina, who despite her failed campaign, could prove to be an asset with donors.
In the Democratic race it is hard to identify any candidate as the victor based on Tuesday’s primary results.
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Some mainstream Republicans have cast both Trump, right, and Cruz as unelectable in a November head-to-head with the Democratic nominee.
