Striding into history, Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major US political party, capturing commitments Monday from the number of delegates needed to become the Democrats’ presumptive nominee.
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Clinton ran away from the historic nature of her candidacy during her failed 2008 presidential campaign, instead trying to focus on her preparedness in an effort to show her toughness.
That gives her a significantly greater lead over Mr Sanders than Barack Obama had over her in 2008 – he led by 131 pledged delegates and 105 superdelegates at the point he clinched the nomination.
According to the AP count, Clinton has has 1,812 pledged delegates, along with the support of 571 superdelegates. With the results of Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for her primary opponent, Sen.
Briggs said the campaign’s job is to convince superdelegates that Sanders is “by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump”.
Mrs Clinton claims she will continue to focus on the contest until she is officially declared the victor, with six states including California and New Jersey to hold their contests today.
Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director, said Clinton hopes to earn Obama’s endorsement and his active participation in the campaign during the summer and fall.
The former secretary of state now becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee, and will do battle in the general election with Donald Trump, who secured the same status within the Republican camp last month.
Clinton reportedly reached the key number one day before Democratic primaries in six USA states, including California where she is campaigning heavily, and eight years after she came up short in her nomination battle against Barack Obama. “We’re not going to let Trump divide us up”.
“I can’t think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I’m not just running because I would be the first woman president”, she said at an October debate moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. But even without those states, the AP says, she has secured enough pledged delegates and superdelegates to become the presumptive nominee.
During a rally in Los Angeles Monday night, Clinton said she was on the brink of a “historic, unprecedented moment”, while acknowledging there was still work to be done in six states voting Tuesday. He says calling the Democratic contest before superdelegates formally vote at the convention is a “rush to judgment”.
Monday’s news – and Tuesday’s primaries – will factor heavily in the reception Sanders receives in coming weeks as he tries to make the case to superdelegates that he would be a stronger nominee than Clinton. Sanders geared up for a “Get out the Vote” concert Monday night in San Francisco.
The Sanders campaign argued that super delegates should not be counted in the tally until the convention in Philadelphia in July, when the nomination is made official.
A win in California, he believes, could help bolster his case by toppling Clinton in Democrats’ largest and most politically important bastion.
But those surveyed by AP are adamant they will support Mrs Clinton.
One option is to drop out, after which he could urge his supporters to join with Clinton and unite Democrats in the fight against Donald Trump. In remarks earlier Monday, Clinton herself acknowledged it was “emotional” to see supporters excited at the prospect of a woman president.
“This is the year 2016”, Sanders said. But she also said she looks “forward to campaigning with the president and everybody else”.
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It’s a remarkable moment for a candidate who’s spent much of her life at the center of a heated national conversation about the role of women.
