Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has already sewed up the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination, while Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton could have the number of delegates needed to secure the nomination after results in New Jersey are announced.
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Though Sanders’ chances of winning the nomination now rest entirely in the hands of party members and elected officials, he said the current system is unfair and that he’ll work to change the future Democratic nominating process.
In other words: Clinton didn’t win another contest, she just persuaded a few more superdelegates to accept the inevitable and get on board. Speaking to reporters at a community center in Compton, Clinton said she was on her way to having a clear lead in the popular vote and pledged delegates. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an AP count.
Sanders has said he will spend the coming weeks seeking to convince many of Clinton’s super-delegates that he is the stronger candidate to go up against Trump. The Republicans in 2008 nominated Sarah Palin, who ran with John McCain, while in 1984 Geraldine Ferraro ran for the Democrats, with Walter Mondale. California’s delegate haul represents nearly 20 percent of the 2,383 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination and nearly 12 percent of the 4,038 pledged delegates up for grabs in 2016.
The former secretary of state has largely declined to discuss the historic nature of her candidacy.
Mr Sanders and Mrs Clinton spent Sunday campaigning in California – the former secretary of state and her husband visiting black churches, appealing to a demographic that had given her important support in past contests. But since vanquishing his last opponents about a month ago, he has continued to make controversial statements, frustrating party leaders who hoped he might moderate in the general election. Older men and older women both choose Clinton, although men support her by 23 points, and women by 38 points.
The spokesman said Obama plans to make a full-throated case for that candidate, who faces a tough challenge against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald TrumpDonald TrumpFla.
In a statement, Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook nodded to the upcoming contests in an attempt to mute an announcement the campaign would have preferred to come after voters headed to the polls in those primaries.
“I look forward to campaigning with the president”, Clinton said.
The reason for the focus on pledged delegates is because early on in this contest, the Sanders campaign, facing such a deficit with superdelegates – he’s never been a Democrat before this year – said it would be unfair for superdelegates to put Clinton over the top, even if Sanders beat her with the “will of the people”.
Hillary Clinton needs just 24 more delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination, when the total of delegates she’s won in primaries and caucuses are combined with her superdelegate supporters.
During the Democratic primaries on Tuesday (when party voters head to the polls in California, New Jersey, the Dakotas, Montana, and New Mexico) 694 delegates, including 475 delegates in California, will be at stake.
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Obama is expected to travel to NY on Wednesday to speak at two Democratic fundraisers, which will take place after California and five other states hold primaries on Tuesday.
