Hillary Clinton still holds a almost insurmountable lead over Sanders, but California’s primary June 7 could offer the Vermont senator a last ray of hope.
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Mr Sanders pointed to polls that showed he fares more favourably than Mrs Clinton in a head-to-head with Mr Trump.
California’s 475 pledged Democratic delegates are at stake in early June.
Although Sanders is nearly mathematically eliminated from securing the delegates needed to win the nomination-after Tuesday, Clinton is 96 percent of the way there-his continued victories state-by-state has complicated Clinton’s efforts to shift her focus to Donald Trump.
Clinton’s main opponent, Bernie Sanders, has won the primary in Oregon.
Two months ago, when Trump rallies turned violent, Sanders called on the candidate to be “loud and clear and tell his supporters that violence at rallies is not what America is about, and to end it”. But with her 524 superdelegates, Clinton is only 92 delegates away from clinching the Democratic Party nomination.
On Tuesday he won the OR primary and while Clinton claimed victory in Kentucky, the race was so close it has not officially been called at the time of publication.
In that vote, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took 56 percent of the vote to Vermont Sen. Supporters of Sanders shouted down pro-Clinton speakers during the convention and there were reports of shoving.
With 77 percent of the vote reported Tuesday morning, Sanders led Clinton by more than 48,000 votes in the Beaver State, adding up to a 55 to 45 percent lead. The former U.S. secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination on June 7 in the New Jersey primary.
In the aftermath of the chaos in Nevada state party convention on Saturday, a growing number of Democrats have grown fearful that if Sanders continues his candidacy, it could provoke a tumultuous and ugly party convention in July, giving presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump a leg up headed into the general election. I’m not going to give up on Kentucky in November.
The split was a de facto win for Clinton as she tries to run out the clock on Sanders while preserving her lead in the delegate count.
If there were a second vote, the delegates would be freed up to support whomever they wish, Sunderland said. She says she cast her ballot for Sanders because, she says, “I think we need huge change”.
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Nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Democratic candidates are preparing for June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states and then the District of Columbia primary on June 14.
