Lisa Huyhn
Hillary Clinton has received enough commitments from the number of delegates needed to become the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president. Once officially announced Clinton will become the first female to sit atop a political party’s race for the Presidency.
An Associated Press count of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses and a survey of party insiders known as superdelegates shows Clinton with the overall support of the required 2,383 delegates.
The same projection was made by NBC News and CNN.
Clinton downplayed the report in a tweet Monday night.
“We’re flattered, @AP, but we’ve got primaries to win. CA, MT, NM, ND, NJ, SD, vote tomorrow!” Clinton said in a tweet.
We’re flattered, @AP, but we've got primaries to win. CA, MT, NM, ND, NJ, SD, vote tomorrow! https://t.co/8t3GpZqc1U
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 7, 2016
Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook released a statement similarly de-emphasizing the AP report.
Clinton's campaign wants to make sure people vote tomorrow. AP's call seems to have gotten ahead of their plans. pic.twitter.com/nd1Nz9dfAz
— Tamara Keith (@tamarakeithNPR) June 7, 2016
According to FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver, Clinton will likely clinch a majority of pledged delegates during Tuesday’s batch of state contests.
Holding primaries on Tuesday are California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. North Dakota holds a caucus.
Clinton will formally accept her party’s omination in July at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Bernie Sanders has promised to stay in the race with the hopes of getting super delegates to switch sides.
“It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are 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,” Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement on Monday.
