Sanders put out a statement condemning violence, but also claimed “Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place”. His opponent, Hillary Clinton also said that.
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Later, in California, Sanders said the party could “do the right thing and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change”.
Sanders got a more comfortable victory with a win in OR, where he was leading by about six points over Clinton with 60 percent of the vote in. Hillary Clinton’s numbers both nationally and in state polls should go up after she clinches the Democratic nomination, so the fact that she is leading Trump through his post clinch bump does not bode well for Republicans.
Tuesday night’s Democrat race wasn’t as clear-cut.
But Sanders’ win in OR on Tuesday netted him just four more delegates than Clinton, and their near-tie in Kentucky did not help him either.
The delegates can pick their candidate in a brokered or contested convention if none of the nominees have a party’s majority of delegates heading into the convention.
“We are in until the last ballot is cast”, Sanders declared.
Clinton’s apparent Kentucky win was her first primary victory since April; the Vermont senator recently notched wins in IN and West Virginia, but by margins that did little to close the gap with Clinton.
The race in Kentucky was too close to call, but Clinton wrote on her Twitter feed: “We just won Kentucky!” And it stalled her efforts to fully turn her fire ahead to a likely general election match-up with Trump.
The margin of victory was less than one-half vote per precinct statewide.
Mr Trump had 67% of the vote in OR with about a quarter of the vote left to be counted. Throughout the primaries, Clinton consistently has done better in such closed contests.
Some have even indicated they wouldn’t back Clinton as the party’s presidential nominee, which could create a rift among Democrats and hinder the party’s chances at winning the White House in November.
Mrs Clinton campaigned in Kentucky on Sunday and Monday in an effort to halt Mr Sanders’ momentum after his recent victories in IN and West Virginia. She just lost the OR primary to Sanders and barely squeaked out a win in Kentucky.
Clinton holds a commanding lead of almost 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. There were 61 delegates up for grabs in Kentucky and 74 in OR and they will be divided proportionally between the two candidates.
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Clinton continues to hold a substantial lead in the delegate count, 2,291 to 1,528, with 2,383 needed to win the nomination, according to The New York Times. This comes as the state party chair in Nevada has been getting death threats and other harassing messages.
