It may be far-fetched, but after her lopsided victory over Bernie Sanders on Saturday in the U.S. Virgin Islands – she garnered all seven of the seven pledged delegates at stake – Puerto Rico could put Clinton over the top.
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Clinton now has 2,313 delegates, including 1,769 pledged delegates and 544 superdelegates.
At a press conference in Los Angeles on Saturday, the Vermont senator said media projections expected to dub Clinton the presumptive nominee are “simply not accurate” because they include superdelegates – elected officials and party leaders who will not cast their votes until the convention in Philadelphia in July.
As Hillary Clinton moves to close the Democratic race, irrespective of winning or losing the California primary next Tuesday, she has demonstrated rare aggression against her Republican rival Donald Trump.
Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has won the party caucus in the US Virgin Islands, ABC News reports.
“Clinton needs to shore up her support among Hispanics”. Mr Sanders now has 1,547 delegates, of which 46 are super-delegates, but claims he can convert enough of Ms Clinton’s super-delegates to sway the result.
Both Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders campaigned across California, stopping in immigrant communities, big cities and the agricultural heartland on the final weekend before Tuesday’s primary in the nation’s biggest state. But losses to Sanders finishing out the primary season could strengthen the senator’s oft-stated resolve to take the fight to the Democratic National Convention next month. Clinton is beating Sanders by about 275 pledged delegates and by about 500 super delegates.
She is all but assured of locking in her party’s nomination, a monumental step towards fulfilling a dream of returning to the White House as commander in chief, 16 years after serving as first lady to president Bill Clinton.
But Sanders has pinned his hopes on California, the country’s largest state and a major delegate prize with 546.
On Sunday, a new poll released by CBS News also found that while Clinton leads Trump in a hypothetical matchup with 48 to 33 percent in California and 49 to 34 percent in New Jersey, Sanders leads Trump by larger margins of 23 and 18 percent in the two states respectively.
The party said Clinton won 84.2 percent of the vote, while Bernie Sanders earned 12.2 percent.
Sanders has said he will work “day and night” to defeat Trump, whom he repeatedly assails as a divisive figure.
“Once the numbers come in, I think we can begin a serious discussion among ourselves about what the right path for us is”, said Tad Devine, Sanders’ senior adviser.
But Mr Sanders has invested heavily in California, where a win could pressure the party to adopt some of the populist policies that have driven his campaign.
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Even though Trump gets trounced by either Democrat in California and New Jersey, Sanders beats him more badly in both those blue states.
