Clinton Wins All Virgin Islands Delegates

7 were at stake
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 5, 2016 12:41 AM CDT
Clinton Wins All Virgin Islands Delegates
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton holds a conversation on immigration at Culinary Arts Institute of Los Angeles Mission College on Saturday, June 4, 2016 in Sylmar, Calif.   (Irfan Khan)

Hillary Clinton scored a sweeping win in the US Virgin Islands on Saturday, picking up all seven pledged delegates at stake as she inched tantalizingly close to the Democratic nomination, the AP reports. She is now just 60 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to advance to the November general election. The party said Clinton won 84.2% of the vote, while Bernie Sanders earned 12.2%. Under Democratic National Committee rules, a candidate must win at least 15% of the vote to be eligible to receive delegates. Clinton now has 1,776 delegates to Sanders' 1,501, based on primaries and caucuses. When including superdelegates, her lead is substantial—2,323 to Sanders' 1,547. It takes 2,383 to win.

The Virgin Islands is one of five US territories that casts votes in primaries and caucuses to decide the nominee, even though those residents aren't eligible to vote in November. While its pool of delegates is small, the island chain took on more importance as Clinton gets closer to clinching the nomination. Earlier this month, former President Bill Clinton campaigned for his wife in the Virgin Islands while Sanders opted to focus more on neighboring Puerto Rico, which has 60 delegates at stake in a primary Sunday. In the final stretch of the primary season, six states including New Jersey and California will vote on Tuesday, with 694 delegates up for grabs. The District of Columbia is the last to vote on June 14. (More Election 2016 stories.)

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