Hillary Clinton won the New York Democratic primary on Tuesday night, breaking a losing streak against challenger Bernie Sanders and winning by a larger number than expected.
“The race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch and victory is in sight,” Clinton declared while addressing supportersTuesday night from her campaign’s primary night party in midtown Manhattan.
Early reports showed Clinton leading Sanders by double digit margins and sweeping the vote in New York City, the state’s most densely populated area.
“Today you proved once again theres no place like home,” Clinton beamed. “We’ve won in every region of the country, from the North to the South to the East to the West. But this one’s personal.”
While both candidates call the Empire State home, as Clinton served the state in the Senate for eight years and Sanders was born in Brooklyn, Clinton was able to draw on her local political experience to appeal to New Yorkers across the state.
In the days leading up to the primary Clinton visited each of New York City’s boroughs multiple times and took many trips to upstate New York. The former senator held agricultural roundtables, prayed in historic churches and even ate an ice cream sundae named for her in the East Village. To add to her local reach, Clinton sent her husband former President Bill Clinton and her daughter Chelsea out on the New York campaign trial.
Going into the race Clinton continually led Sanders in the polls, closing out the primary campaign up by double digits. Sanders polled well in parts of upstate New York, but Clinton led in the city.
Clinton benefited from the state’s close primary system, in which only registered Democrats could vote. Historically her opponent has done better among independents and first-time voters whereas the former secretary of state wins over registered Democrats.
The day before the primary the Sanders attacked the Clinton campaign for a joint fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee to take more than the individual contribution maximum of $2,700 from supporters. The Clinton campaign disputed these allegations as a distraction from the issue.
Clinton voted at a local elementary school in Chappaqua, N.Y. early Tuesday morning, the town where she and her husband have had their official residence since 2000, although the pair spend relatively little time there. Afterwards she greeted some fifty supporters who came out to the polling place.
After New York, the Democrats will turn their attention to the April 26 primaries in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island.
