US Democratic Presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Leimert Park in Los Angeles, California, USA, on Monday. The state of California will hold presidential primary elections on Tuesday. — Photo EPA |
LOS ANGELES —Hillary Clinton has received commitments from enough delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, according to the Associated Press and
The former secretary of state now becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee, and will do battle in the general election with Donald Trump, who secured the same status within the Republican camp last month.
"This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting on Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote," her campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement.
"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."
Sanders immediately responded, insisting no Democrat will lock in the nomination until the Democratic national convention in July because unbound super-delegates cannot vote until then.
"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 super-delegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement.
Sanders has said he will spend the coming weeks seeking to convince many of Clinton’s super-delegates that he is the stronger candidate to go up against Trump.
She surpassed the threshold on Monday after a number of super-delegates - current and former elected officials and political activists who are not bound
to vote for a specific candidate - recently committed to back her candidacy, according to the AP.
Sanders stands at 1,568 delegates, more than 800 behind his rival, and there is no precedent for a massive number of super-delegates switching sides.