Clinton Wins in Puerto Rico

She overwhelmed Bernie Sanders, AP reports
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 5, 2016 9:08 PM CDT
Clinton Wins in Puerto Rico
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton attends a news conference after a roundtable to discuss the health care crisis in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015.   (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

Hillary Clinton overwhelmed Bernie Sanders in Puerto Rico's Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, putting her within striking distance of capturing her party's nomination, the AP reports. After a blowout victory Saturday in the US Virgin Islands and a decisive win in the US territory, Clinton is now less than 30 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination, according to an AP count. Clinton has 1,807 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses; Sanders has 1,516. When including superdelegates, her lead over Sanders is substantial—2,355 to 1,562.

The results were slow to arrive on Sunday, as officials counted ballots by hand and focused first on releasing results tied to the island's local primary elections, said Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rico's former Democratic National Committeeman. As the results from Puerto Rico trickled in, Clinton maintained a steady 2-to-1 lead over Sanders. While Puerto Rican residents cannot vote in the general election, the island's politics could reverberate into the fall campaign. Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have left the island to escape a dismal economy, with many resettling in the key electoral battleground of Florida. (More Election 2016 stories.)

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