Hillary Clinton has reached the 2,383 delegate threshold to clinch the Democratic nomination for president, the Associated Press reported late Monday.
With her combined pledged delegates and superdelegates, Clinton beat rival Bernie Sanders to the finish line, but nothing is official until the Democratic convention in July. Sanders says he plans to stay in the primary contest all the way up to the convention.
BREAKING: @AP finds Clinton reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president pic.twitter.com/e473F0G4vX
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 7, 2016
The Clinton campaign reacted to the news soon after the AP’s announcement.
“This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote. We look forward to Tuesday night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates,” said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.
Clinton herself responded to the news at a rally in Longbeach, Calif., saying “We are on the brink of an historic, unprecedented moment.”
“But,” she added, “we still have work to do,” pointing out that there are still primaries to be won in California, New Jersey, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico.
We’re flattered, @AP, but we’ve got primaries to win. CA, MT, NM, ND, NJ, SD, vote tomorrow! https://t.co/8t3GpZqc1U
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 7, 2016
Meanwhile the Sanders campaign fired back, saying that it is “unfortunate” that the media rushed to judgement, noting that Clinton does not have enough pledged delegates to actually secure the nomination.
“It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee’s clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer,” said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs. “Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination.”
Clinton’s total of 1,812 pledged delegates is buoyed by her large superdelegate advantage over Sanders. She has 571 superdelegates, while the Vermont senator has only 48 behind him.
Clinton won the Democratic primaries in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico over the weekend, which inched her closer to reaching the milestone.
The presumptive nominee has spent the last week campaigning in California, which holds its primary on Tuesday. A total of 546 delegates are at stake in the Golden State. Sanders hopes to win California, where he trails Clinton by 2 percentage points in a RealClearPolitics average of polls, to build momentum going into the convention where he hopes to “flip” superdelegates to his side.
“She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then. They include more than 400 superdelegates who endorsed Secretary Clinton 10 months before the first caucuses and primaries and long before any other candidate was in the race,” Briggs said. “Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump.”
