Hillary Clinton won the Virgin Islands’ Democratic caucuses Saturday, putting her within inches of clinching her party’s presidential nomination.
According to figures provided by the local Democratic party, the former secretary of state defeated opponent Bernie Sanders by nearly 1,200 votes, receiving 1,308 to the Vermont senator’s 190. However, she earns only seven delegates.
Clinton currently leads Sanders by more than 250 pledged delegates in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Clinton’s overwhelming victory comes eight years after then-Sen. Barack Obama swept the Virgin Islands, carrying nearly 90 percent of the vote against Clinton and securing all seven of the pledged delegates up for grabs.
The former first lady will face Sanders again on Sunday when Puerto Rico holds its primary, offering a prize of 60 Democratic delegates. She is poised to pick up even more delegates and be declared the presumptive nominee next Tuesday, when the final six states hold their nominating contests. But Sanders has pledged to try to flip “superdelegates” pledged to Clinton and provoke a contested convention.
