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Clinton clinches Democratic presidential nomination
June 7 presidential primary elections, 2016
June 8, 2016
By Jim Barnes
With the final big round of presidential primaries and caucuses on June 7, Hillary Clinton was able to claim a majority of the pledged delegates who will attend the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. That’s an important metric for Clinton, who now can legitimately say that her nomination is not dependent on the support she’s received from superdelegates, the Democratic Party leaders and elected officials, who are automatic delegates to the convention, not bound by the results of any primary or caucus.
In CNN’s delegate count, as of 5:30 AM on June 8, Clinton had amassed 2,168 pledged delegates of the 4,051 total. Her overall delegate tally was 2,740 out of the roughly 4,765 who are expected to attend the Democratic convention.
Clinton won primaries in California, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. Her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, won the Montana primary and the North Dakota Democratic caucus.
Clinton’s victory in New Jersey was impressive: with 99 percent of the precincts reporting, she beat Sanders 63-to-37 percent and carried 19 of the state’s 21 counties, losing only Sussex and Warren in the less densely populated northwestern corner of the state. Her best county was Essex (home to Newark) where she won with roughly 73 percent of the vote.
In California, the biggest delegate prize of the Democratic contest, with 82 percent of the precincts reporting, CNN projected that Clinton would carry the state. In the tabulated vote, she was leading 56-to-43 percent. She was also leading in the 10 largest vote-producing counties in the state, including San Francisco. But when all of the votes are counted, Clinton’s margin could fall a bit.
| California Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
 Hillary Clinton |
54.2% | 2,580,865 | 269 | |
| Bernie Sanders | 44.9% | 2,135,718 | 206 | |
| Roque De La Fuente | 0.2% | 7,757 | 0 | |
| Henry Hewes | 0.1% | 6,997 | 0 | |
| Keith Judd | 0.1% | 6,771 | 0 | |
| Michael Steinberg | 0.2% | 10,247 | 0 | |
| Willie Wilson | 0.2% | 11,260 | 0 | |
| Totals | 4,759,615 | 475 | ||
| Source: The New York Times and California Secretary of State | ||||
Her wins in New Mexico and South Dakota were much narrower. Clinton beat Sanders by only three percentage points in New Mexico, 51.5-to-48.5 percent. She won 23 of the state’s 33 counties including Santa Fe and Dona Ana (Las Cruces) home to New Mexico State University. Sanders won the biggest vote-producing county in the state, Bernalillo (Albuquerque), home to the University of New Mexico.
| New Mexico Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Hillary Clinton |
51.5% | 111,225 | 18 | |
| Bernie Sanders | 48.5% | 104,656 | 16 | |
| Totals | 215,881 | 34 | ||
| Source: The New York Times and New Mexico Secretary of State | ||||
Clinton’s margin over Sanders in South Dakota was just over 1,000 votes. She carried the Mount Rushmore state, 51-to-49 percent. A map of the state revealed that she captured the eastern half of the state, including the prosperous Sioux Falls area, while Sanders swept the western half of the state including Oglala Lakota County, formerly Shannon County, an area dominated by Native Americans.
| South Dakota Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Hillary Clinton |
51% | 27,047 | 10 | |
| Bernie Sanders | 49% | 25,959 | 10 | |
| Totals | 53,006 | 20 | ||
| Source: The New York Times and South Dakota Secretary of State | ||||
Sanders swamped Clinton in the North Dakota caucuses, 64-to-26 percent. Another 10 percent voted for sending uncommitted delegates to the convention. With 96 percent of the precincts reporting in Montana, Sanders had bested Clinton 51-to-45 percent. Another 4 percent expressed “no preference.”
| North Dakota Democratic Caucus, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Bernie Sanders |
64.2% | 253 | 13 | |
| Hillary Clinton | 25.6% | 101 | 5 | |
| Other | 10.2% | 40 | 0 | |
| Totals | 394 | 18 | ||
| Source: The New York Times | ||||
Vote totals represent the number of state convention delegates won.
James A. Barnes is a senior writer at Ballotpedia who has covered every Democratic and Republican national convention since 1984. He will be in Cleveland and Philadelphia for Ballotpedia in July.
See also
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Presidential election, 2016/Polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
- Presidential election, 2016/Straw polls
