Hillary Clinton has secured a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, NBC News projected on Monday, June 6, 2016 evening — making the former secretary of state the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.
Clinton, whose first quest for the Democratic nomination ended in a concession speech almost exactly eight years ago to the day, now becomes the first woman ever to win the nomination of a major political party in the United States.
Clinton reached the majority of 2,383 delegates with a combination of pledged and unpledged “super delegates.” The new tally includes pledges from over a dozen new superdelegates as well as her accumulation of 36 pledged delegates in Sunday’s Puerto Rico primary.
By NBC’s count, Clinton now has 1812 pledged delegates and 572 superdelegates, while Sanders has 1520 pledged and 46 superdelegates.
Clinton was widely expected to reach the 2,383 threshold on Tuesday, when six states hold their nominating contests on one of the final primary nights of the race.
In a statement, Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook nodded to the upcoming contests in an attempt to mute an announcement the campaign would have preferred to come after voters headed to the polls in those primaries.
“This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote,” Mook said. “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.”
Clinton’s campaign worked to reiterate that message 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
via NBC News
