Live Updates: Clinton Set to Make History As Six States Vote
The former Secretary of State will likely become the first woman to lead a major political party in the race for the White House
By Andrew Peng in New Jersey, Mulan Burgess in New York, Gabriel Angelini in Massachusetts, Nicholas Zhao Rui and Alex Li in California, and Lucas Pringle in the UK.
Published at 1:00 p.m. EST
Welcome to our coverage of the last major day in the primary process. Hundreds of delegates in six states — New Jersey, California, the Dakotas, New Mexico and Montana — are up for grabs tonight, but there is little doubt that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will cement her position as the first woman in American history to lead a major political party in a White House bid.
The Associated Press, CNN, and NBC News declared Clinton the presumptive Democratic nominee late last night after a survey of superdelegates — a group of elected officials and senior party members that are free to vote for the candidate of their choice, unlike bound delegates— revealed that she had crossed the crucial 2,383 delegate threshold needed to clinch the nomination.
However, Clinton’s rival, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, vigorously contested the call, arguing the Clinton cannot reach the goal through pledged delegates alone. As of now, a Sanders spokesman told Campaigner that the candidate will continue to campaign until the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July, with the goal of swaying superdelegates to back him. Clinton backers say that both Clinton’s nearly 300 pledged-delegate lead, along with her lead in 3 million total votes in the states that have voted so far, are insurmountable at this point in the primary.
CLINTON WINS NEW JERSEY — CNN, NBC
9:07 p.m. EST — Adds to her lead in pledged delegates
Hillary Clinton easily beat Bernie Sanders in New Jersey’s Democratic primary, according to projections from CNN and NBC News.
New Jersey was just one of six states holding contests today, including delegate-rich California, but it was clearly important for Clinton’s campaign; she held several rallies in the state in recent weeks, including one in Rutgers Newark, and Bill and Chelsea Clinton criss-crossed the state for nearly a dozen events.
NJ Polls Close As Clinton Supporters Arrive
8:40 p.m. EST — Supporters are gathering in Brooklyn as Clinton leads in early New Jersey results
Hillary Clinton supporters and elected officials are now gathering at the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, according to Campaigner’s Mulan Burgess.
Polls closed in New Jersey’s Democratic primary at 8:00 p.m. EST, and she currently leads 59%–41% with approximately five percent of precincts reporting.
Clinton to Return to Brooklyn for Historic Rally
5:45 p.m. EST — Mulan Burgess is covering her tonight in NYC
MULAN BURGESS in Brooklyn — As Hillary Clinton prepares to cement her title of presumptive Democratic nominee after a long, drawn-out primary process, it is not easy to ignore the significance of this night.
Clinton will hold a rally at the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the same venue where she debated rival Bernie Sanders before the New York primary. And her (likely) victory address will be heard in a context very different than another she delivered as a candidate in her previous presidential campaign.
It was on this same night eight years ago— June 7, 2008 — that Clinton herself conceded to and endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama, the first African-American to lead a major political party in American history, in a speech at the National Building Museum in Washington.
“Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it,” Clinton said in that 2008 speech. “and the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.”
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