Hillary Clinton has earned enough delegates to clinch the Democratic
presidential nomination, according to an Associated Press count released
Monday night – an assessment swiftly challenged by primary rival Bernie
Sanders and his campaign.
The AP released its updated tally, showing the former
secretary of state winning enough delegates to become the first woman
to top a major party’s presidential ticket, on the eve of the last major
day of primary voting.
The AP said Clinton reached the 2,383 delegates
needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee with a weekend
victory in Puerto Rico and late burst of support from superdelegates.
Those are party officials and officeholders, many of them eager to wrap
up the primary, free to support whichever candidate they want.
"We really need to bring a close to this primary
process and get on to defeating Donald Trump," said Nancy Worley, a
superdelegate who chairs Alabama's Democratic Party and provided one of
the last endorsements to put Clinton over the top.
"It's time to stand behind our presumptive
candidate," said Michael Brown, one of two superdelegates from the
District of Columbia who came forward in the past week to back Clinton
before the city's June 14 primary. "We shouldn't be acting like we are
undecided when the people of America have spoken."
Clinton touted the news at a Long Beach, Calif.,
campaign event, saying the campaign is now on the “brink of a historic …
unprecedented moment.” But even she stressed that six states are yet to
vote on Tuesday and urged supporters to cast their ballots for her in
those contests.
The six states to vote Tuesday include New Jersey, North Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, California, and South Dakota.
Campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement:
“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."
The Sanders campaign rejected the declaration that
Clinton had clinched the party nod, citing its longstanding position
that the superdelegates should not count until they actually vote at the
convention – as they are free to switch sides before then.
"There is nothing to concede," Sanders
told KTVU
late Monday at a rally in San Francisco. "Secretary Clinton will not
have the requisite number of pledged delegates to win the Democratic
nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates. They vote on July
25th so right now our goal right at this moment [is to] do everything we
can to win the primary tomorrow."
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs accused the media of
“a rush to judgement" and "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."
"Our job from now until the convention is to convince
those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate
against Donald Trump," Briggs said.
On Monday, Sanders' supporters expressed
disappointment that the calls were made before California's primary and
urged the senator to continue on despite the pronouncements. "We're
going to keep fighting until the last vote is counted," said Kristen
Elliott, a Sanders' supporter from San Francisco who attended the rally.
Said another attendee, Patrick Bryant of San Francisco: "It's what bookies do. They call fights before they're over."
Clinton has won 1,812 pledged delegates in primaries
and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according
to an Associated Press count. The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates
repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly
uncommitted.
All the superdelegates counted in Clinton's tally
have unequivocally told the AP they will back her at the convention and
not change their vote. Since the start of the AP's survey in late 2015,
no superdelegates have switched from supporting Clinton to backing
Sanders.
Clinton’s presumptive victory Monday came nearly
eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign
to Barack Obama. Back then, she famously noted her inability to
"shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling."
Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to
Obama, Clinton fended off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont
Sen. Sanders. He mobilized millions with a fervently liberal message and
his insurgent candidacy revealed a deep level of national frustration
with politics-as-usual, even among Democrats who have controlled the
White House since 2009.
Clinton outpaced Sanders in winning new superdelegate
endorsements even after his string of primary and caucus wins in May.
Following the results in Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for
Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the
remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates,
according to the AP.
Clinton leads Sanders by more than 3 million cast
votes, by 291 pledged delegates and by 523 superdelegates. She also won
29 caucuses and primaries compared to his 21 victories.
Echoing the sentiments of California Gov. Jerry
Brown, who overcame a decades-long rivalry with the Clinton family to
endorse her last week, many superdelegates expressed a desire to close
ranks around a nominee who could defeat Trump in November.
Beyond winning over millions of Sanders supporters
who vow to remain loyal to the self-described democratic socialist,
Clinton faces challenges as she turns toward November, including
criticism of her decision to use a private email server run from her New
York home while serving as secretary of state. Her deep unpopularity
among Republicans has pushed many leery of Trump to nevertheless embrace
his campaign.
"This to me is about saving the country and
preventing a third progressive, liberal term, which is what a Clinton
presidency would do," House Speaker Paul Ryan told the AP last week
after he finally endorsed Trump, weeks after the New Yorker clinched the
GOP nomination.
Yet Clinton showed no signs of limping into the
general election as she approached the milestone, leaving Sanders behind
and focusing on lacerating Trump. She said electing the billionaire
businessman, who has spent months hitting her and her husband with
bitingly personal attacks, would be a "historic mistake."
"He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally
unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense
responsibility," Clinton said last week in a speech that was striking in
its forcefulness, previewing a brutal five-month general election
campaign to come.
Even without the nomination, Sanders can claim
ideological victory. His liberal positions pushed the issue of income
inequality into the spotlight and drove Clinton to the left on issues
such as trade, Wall Street and campaign finance reform.
But she prevailed, in part, by claiming much of the
coalition that boosted Obama. She won overwhelming support from women
and minorities, catapulting her to decisive victories in diverse,
delegate-rich states such as New York and Texas.
When Clinton launched her campaign last April, she
did so largely unopposed, having scared off more formidable challengers
by locking down much of the party's organizational and fundraising
infrastructure. Vice President Joe Biden, seen as her most threatening
rival, opted not to run in October.
Of the four opponents who did take her on, Sanders
was the only one who emerged to provide a serious challenge. He caught
fire among young voters and independents, his campaign gaining momentum
from a narrow loss in Iowa in February and a commanding victory in New
Hampshire. His ability to raise vast sums of money online gave him the
resources to continue into the spring.
But Clinton vowed not to repeat the failings of her
2008 campaign and focused early on winning delegates, hiring help from
Obama's old team before launching her campaign. They pushed
superdelegates into making early commitments and held campaign
appearances in areas where they could win the most pledged delegates.
Her victory in Nevada in late February diminished
concerns from allies about her campaign operation. Decisive wins in
Southern states on Super Tuesday and a sweep of March 15 contests gave
her a significant delegate lead, which became insurmountable by the end
of April after big victories in New York and in the Northeast.
She now moves on to face Trump, whose ascent to the
top of the Republican Party few expected. The brash real estate mogul
and reality TV star has long since turned his attention from primary
foes to Clinton, debuting a nickname — "Crooked Hillary" — and arguing
she belongs in jail for her email setup.
After a long primary campaign, Clinton said this past weekend in California she was ready to accept his challenge.
"We're judged by our words and our deeds, not our
race, not our ethnicity, not our religion," she said Saturday in Oxnard.
"So it is time to judge Donald Trump by his words and his deeds. And I
believe that his words and his deeds disqualify him from being president
of the United States."