“This is in a sense the beginning of the final push to win California”.
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Despite calls for him to drop out, Sanders insisted he would stay in the race until “the last ballot is cast”.
Tuesday’s contests aren’t likely to change the overall dynamics of the race.
In interviews with 14 voters who back the USA senator from Vermont, supporters said they did not believe Trump, who is all but certain to be the Republican nominee, could win the November 8 general election.
At a rally in Hopkinsville, Clinton pummeled the “risky and dangerous” Trump, suggesting he is unqualified to handle tough foreign policy decisions.
“Do you think Crooked Hillary will finally close the deal?” Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, were still on OR ballots.
The tight margin in Kentucky between Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders means that the two will split the state’s delegates fairly evenly.
Sanders issued a defiant statement Tuesday, knocking Democratic Party leaders in Nevada and threatening national party leaders with potential damage in the general election. Also, Trump and the Republican National Committee have signed a joint fundraising agreement that will allow donors to write checks of up to $449,400.
Alison Lundergan Grimes, chair of the Kentucky State Board of Elections, told CNN that unofficial results confirmed that Clinton would narrowly win the state’s primary contest.
“Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, we’re going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton”, Sanders said Tuesday night to cheers in Carson, California.
Clinton’s campaign continued to express confidence that she would be able to unify the party.
The staffing expansion includes Maine, Minnesota and other places where Trump opens as the underdog, with the NY billionaire seeking to expand the electoral battlefield by drawing on his appeal among working class white voters – and probable Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton’s perceived weakness with them.
But first, Clinton must finish the primaries.
To close that 283 delegate gap, Sanders would need to win 67 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates.
A big advantage for Clinton is the closed Kentucky primary, a scenario that has so far boosted the establishment candidate’s chances by depressing pro-Sanders independents. By midnight, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was leading Sen. “I wanted to put them both in a blender and whir them up together”, she said. Those remarks contributed to a stinging loss for Clinton in last week’s West Virginia primary. “Will be another bad day for her!” She also praised President Barack Obama’s auto industry bailout while accusing Sanders of opposing the measure, which was important for Kentucky because it is a hub of suppliers for auto manufacturers.
“When we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked”, Sanders said in the statement. Clinton, 68, barnstormed Kentucky on Sunday and Monday, shaking hands, taking selfies, offering hugs – even chatting with Trump supporters at a smoke-filled diner in the southwestern city of Paducah.
Only Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, made campaign stops in Oregon.
Polls close at 6 p.m. local time (ET and CT) in Kentucky, while polls close at 8 p.m. PT in Oregon.
Meanwhile, Sanders was trying to continue chipping away at Clinton’s 767 delegate lead in the Democratic presidential race.
Clinton entered the Kentucky primary on Tuesday with 1,716 pledged delegates, 283 more than Sanders, according to a delegate count by The New York Times.
With 99.84% of the precincts reporting, Clinton had 46.75% to Sanders’ 46.33%, a difference of about 1,800 votes, according to the Associated Press.
If Sanders still hopes to reach the 2,383 needed to win, he would have to pick up an overwhelming 88 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates.
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Unlike Republican contests in the nomination contests, all Democratic races allocate pledged delegates proportionally.
