Hillary Clinton Wins Four States, Adding to Delegate Lead
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Democratic
front-runner Hillary Clinton won critical presidential primaries in the
industrial Midwest and completed her sweep of the South on Tuesday, as
she took full command of a contest that has been far more competitive
than expected at the start.
Rival Bernie Sanders was still hoping to win in Missouri, where the result was too close to call. But even a Missouri win for Mr. Sanders seemed nowhere near enough to change the dynamic of the race. Mrs. Clinton won in Ohio, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina, and blunted Mr. Sanders’s momentum from a win last week in Michigan. She widened her already formidable delegate lead and made it improbable he can catch up.
“We are moving close to securing the Democratic Party nomination and winning this election in November,” the former secretary of state and New York senator told cheering supporters in Florida, boasting that she has won more votes than any candidate in either party.
She took a swipe at Mr. Sanders, saying he should be more specific about his plans, but she lodged a wholesale indictment of Republican front-runner Donald Trump. “When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, banning all Muslims from entering the United States, when he embraces torture—that doesn’t make him strong. It makes him wrong,” she said.
With 214 pledged delegates at stake, Florida was the night’s biggest prize, while Illinois had 156 pledged delegates and Ohio 143 up for grabs. They will be awarded proportionally.
Heading into Tuesday, Mr. Sanders was ramping up his attacks on Mrs. Clinton, and has vowed to fight all the way to the summer convention. But he may now face increasing pressure to back off and revert to his earlier role as a candidate primarily driving a progressive, populist message rather than pursuing a viable path to the nomination.
At his election night rally in Arizona Tuesday night, though, Mr. Sanders showed no signs of backing off. He pointed to Wall Street contributions to the super PAC supporting Mrs. Clinton and repeated his call that she release transcripts of her high-priced speeches to Wall Street firms.
“To my mind, if you’re going to give a speech for $225,000 it must be a really great speech,” he said. “And if it’s such a great speech, all of America should be able to read it.”
In a statement issued late into the night, Mr. Sanders said the race was still winnable.
“With more than half the delegates yet to be chosen and a calendar that favors us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident that our campaign is on a path to win the nomination,” he said.
With nearly all precincts counted, Mrs. Clinton topped Mr. Sanders 64.5% to 33.3% in Florida, by 54.6% to 40.8% in North Carolina and by 56.5% to 42.8% in Ohio.
In Illinois, her margin was much closer, some 50.3% to 48.9% with 98% of precincts reporting.
Mrs. Clinton had been expected to easily win Florida, with the state’s demographics and rules barring independents from participating helping her. But Ohio was closely fought, and Mr. Sanders had hoped to parlay a victory last week in Michigan to the neighboring state. Both have seen a drain in manufacturing jobs, and Mr. Sanders put the blame squarely on free-trade agreements that Mrs. Clinton has long supported.
Mrs. Clinton completed a sweep of the South, where strong support from African-Americans pumped up her totals. But her Ohio win was more important, showing she could win in the industrial Midwest.
After Tuesday’s vote, Mrs. Clinton was assured of adding at least 253 delegates to her column, bringing her total pledged delegates, who are chosen by the voters, to more than 1,000. Mr. Sanders was sure to add at least 124 delegates, but he was on track to end the night more than 300 delegates behind. Including superdelegates, who can vote for any candidate they like, her total topped 1,400, more than double his.
At roughly the halfway point of the race, Sanders advisers say they now have the advantage, with friendlier states set later in the calendar. His campaign now looks ahead to contests next week in Arizona, Utah and Idaho, three states where aides have hoped to do well. But the next big delegate hauls aren’t awarded until April: first in Wisconsin, and then the giant prize of New York, where Mrs. Clinton lives and which she represented in the Senate for eight years.
ENLARGE
In Florida, Mrs. Clinton’s advantage was on display Tuesday in Miami,
home to large populations of Hispanic and African-American voters who
have gravitated to her campaign.
“I like that she’s a smart, charismatic woman,” said Bridgette Thornton, a 37-year-old African-American attorney, who cast her ballot at a Miami church. “It was a difficult choice for me, but I’m a practical person. Hillary has a better shot at winning the presidential election.”
The race was closer in Ohio, where Mr. Sanders hammered his anti-free-trade views in recent days. Mrs. Clinton tried to recast her trade message, but the attempt fell flat with at least some voters.
“The Clinton history with trade policies, that really just killed our area,” said Fred Woke, a 57-year-old radio announcer who voted for Mr. Sanders in Niles, in northeastern Ohio.
The question now is what tone Mr. Sanders will adopt in coming days. In the leadup to Tuesday’s contests, the Vermont senator targeted Mrs. Clinton’s record of support for free-trade deals, and for the backing she receives from an outside super PAC.
Earlier in the race, Mr. Sanders vowed to avoid negative attacks, but he has amped up his critique in the weeks since voting began. On the stump leading into Tuesday’s voting, he suggested Mrs. Clinton is in the pocket of Wall Street and connected her support for free-trade agreements to an exodus of manufacturing jobs across the Midwest.
The challenge for both Democrats is that Mr. Trump, should he win the Republican nomination, would be an unconventional opponent who could pick up some of Mr. Sanders’s populist arguments.
That has some Clinton backers anxious for Mr. Sanders to ease up. “The message of Sanders campaign has become personal attacks,” said Robert Zimmerman, a superdelegate from New York who backs Mrs. Clinton. “It’s not only wrong, it’s dangerous politically if he keeps up that tone. It could hurt plans for party unity and empower Republicans.”
Steve Elmendorf, a political consultant who backs Mrs. Clinton, agreed there will come a point when Mr. Sanders needs to let up, but he said it isn’t for Clinton supporters to say when. “When it becomes clear you cannot win, then you should unite behind the nominee of the party and try to beat the Republicans,” Mr. Elmendorf said. “It’s for him to decide when he can’t win.”
In 2008, Mrs. Clinton herself continued to compete in presidential-primary contests against then-Sen. Barack Obama even though he remained ahead in the delegate race the entire time.
“Even if he doesn’t think he will win the nomination, he’s trying to amass as many delegates as he can,” said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist. Delegates would give Mr. Sanders leverage at the party’s convention and demonstrate the strength of his movement, Mr. Trippi said, adding, “I don’t see him relenting.”
Sanders aides see a narrow path to the nomination to the nomination and say the senator will continue to fight for it. His fervent supporters, who continue to fill arenas, also hope he presses forward. “I think that you need to fight the fight ’til the end,” said Cindy Figh, 50, a massage therapist from Lithia, Fla., who shaved the name “Bernie” into her hair and came to see the senator speak last week in Tampa. “I just think that there’s a chance that he can pull it off.”
She rejected any suggestion that Mr. Sanders might damage Mrs. Clinton, whom she plans to support if she wins the nomination. “I think that this is part of politics,” Ms. Figh said. “We’re in the big-boy playground now, and sometimes your ball gets taken away.”
Steve Schale, a Democratic consultant in Florida who voted for Mrs. Clinton, said he doesn’t worry that the Sanders attacks will damage her, partly because Democrats are sure to unify if Mr. Trump is the nominee. “You want to get Democrats over the Sanders-Clinton thing, give them five seconds to think about Trump being within five feet of the nuclear codes,” Mr. Schale said.
Rival Bernie Sanders was still hoping to win in Missouri, where the result was too close to call. But even a Missouri win for Mr. Sanders seemed nowhere near enough to change the dynamic of the race. Mrs. Clinton won in Ohio, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina, and blunted Mr. Sanders’s momentum from a win last week in Michigan. She widened her already formidable delegate lead and made it improbable he can catch up.
“We are moving close to securing the Democratic Party nomination and winning this election in November,” the former secretary of state and New York senator told cheering supporters in Florida, boasting that she has won more votes than any candidate in either party.
She took a swipe at Mr. Sanders, saying he should be more specific about his plans, but she lodged a wholesale indictment of Republican front-runner Donald Trump. “When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, banning all Muslims from entering the United States, when he embraces torture—that doesn’t make him strong. It makes him wrong,” she said.
With 214 pledged delegates at stake, Florida was the night’s biggest prize, while Illinois had 156 pledged delegates and Ohio 143 up for grabs. They will be awarded proportionally.
Heading into Tuesday, Mr. Sanders was ramping up his attacks on Mrs. Clinton, and has vowed to fight all the way to the summer convention. But he may now face increasing pressure to back off and revert to his earlier role as a candidate primarily driving a progressive, populist message rather than pursuing a viable path to the nomination.
At his election night rally in Arizona Tuesday night, though, Mr. Sanders showed no signs of backing off. He pointed to Wall Street contributions to the super PAC supporting Mrs. Clinton and repeated his call that she release transcripts of her high-priced speeches to Wall Street firms.
“To my mind, if you’re going to give a speech for $225,000 it must be a really great speech,” he said. “And if it’s such a great speech, all of America should be able to read it.”
In a statement issued late into the night, Mr. Sanders said the race was still winnable.
“With more than half the delegates yet to be chosen and a calendar that favors us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident that our campaign is on a path to win the nomination,” he said.
With nearly all precincts counted, Mrs. Clinton topped Mr. Sanders 64.5% to 33.3% in Florida, by 54.6% to 40.8% in North Carolina and by 56.5% to 42.8% in Ohio.
In Illinois, her margin was much closer, some 50.3% to 48.9% with 98% of precincts reporting.
Mrs. Clinton had been expected to easily win Florida, with the state’s demographics and rules barring independents from participating helping her. But Ohio was closely fought, and Mr. Sanders had hoped to parlay a victory last week in Michigan to the neighboring state. Both have seen a drain in manufacturing jobs, and Mr. Sanders put the blame squarely on free-trade agreements that Mrs. Clinton has long supported.
Mrs. Clinton completed a sweep of the South, where strong support from African-Americans pumped up her totals. But her Ohio win was more important, showing she could win in the industrial Midwest.
After Tuesday’s vote, Mrs. Clinton was assured of adding at least 253 delegates to her column, bringing her total pledged delegates, who are chosen by the voters, to more than 1,000. Mr. Sanders was sure to add at least 124 delegates, but he was on track to end the night more than 300 delegates behind. Including superdelegates, who can vote for any candidate they like, her total topped 1,400, more than double his.
At roughly the halfway point of the race, Sanders advisers say they now have the advantage, with friendlier states set later in the calendar. His campaign now looks ahead to contests next week in Arizona, Utah and Idaho, three states where aides have hoped to do well. But the next big delegate hauls aren’t awarded until April: first in Wisconsin, and then the giant prize of New York, where Mrs. Clinton lives and which she represented in the Senate for eight years.
ENLARGE “I like that she’s a smart, charismatic woman,” said Bridgette Thornton, a 37-year-old African-American attorney, who cast her ballot at a Miami church. “It was a difficult choice for me, but I’m a practical person. Hillary has a better shot at winning the presidential election.”
The race was closer in Ohio, where Mr. Sanders hammered his anti-free-trade views in recent days. Mrs. Clinton tried to recast her trade message, but the attempt fell flat with at least some voters.
“The Clinton history with trade policies, that really just killed our area,” said Fred Woke, a 57-year-old radio announcer who voted for Mr. Sanders in Niles, in northeastern Ohio.
The question now is what tone Mr. Sanders will adopt in coming days. In the leadup to Tuesday’s contests, the Vermont senator targeted Mrs. Clinton’s record of support for free-trade deals, and for the backing she receives from an outside super PAC.
Earlier in the race, Mr. Sanders vowed to avoid negative attacks, but he has amped up his critique in the weeks since voting began. On the stump leading into Tuesday’s voting, he suggested Mrs. Clinton is in the pocket of Wall Street and connected her support for free-trade agreements to an exodus of manufacturing jobs across the Midwest.
The challenge for both Democrats is that Mr. Trump, should he win the Republican nomination, would be an unconventional opponent who could pick up some of Mr. Sanders’s populist arguments.
That has some Clinton backers anxious for Mr. Sanders to ease up. “The message of Sanders campaign has become personal attacks,” said Robert Zimmerman, a superdelegate from New York who backs Mrs. Clinton. “It’s not only wrong, it’s dangerous politically if he keeps up that tone. It could hurt plans for party unity and empower Republicans.”
Steve Elmendorf, a political consultant who backs Mrs. Clinton, agreed there will come a point when Mr. Sanders needs to let up, but he said it isn’t for Clinton supporters to say when. “When it becomes clear you cannot win, then you should unite behind the nominee of the party and try to beat the Republicans,” Mr. Elmendorf said. “It’s for him to decide when he can’t win.”
In 2008, Mrs. Clinton herself continued to compete in presidential-primary contests against then-Sen. Barack Obama even though he remained ahead in the delegate race the entire time.
“Even if he doesn’t think he will win the nomination, he’s trying to amass as many delegates as he can,” said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist. Delegates would give Mr. Sanders leverage at the party’s convention and demonstrate the strength of his movement, Mr. Trippi said, adding, “I don’t see him relenting.”
Sanders aides see a narrow path to the nomination to the nomination and say the senator will continue to fight for it. His fervent supporters, who continue to fill arenas, also hope he presses forward. “I think that you need to fight the fight ’til the end,” said Cindy Figh, 50, a massage therapist from Lithia, Fla., who shaved the name “Bernie” into her hair and came to see the senator speak last week in Tampa. “I just think that there’s a chance that he can pull it off.”
She rejected any suggestion that Mr. Sanders might damage Mrs. Clinton, whom she plans to support if she wins the nomination. “I think that this is part of politics,” Ms. Figh said. “We’re in the big-boy playground now, and sometimes your ball gets taken away.”
Steve Schale, a Democratic consultant in Florida who voted for Mrs. Clinton, said he doesn’t worry that the Sanders attacks will damage her, partly because Democrats are sure to unify if Mr. Trump is the nominee. “You want to get Democrats over the Sanders-Clinton thing, give them five seconds to think about Trump being within five feet of the nuclear codes,” Mr. Schale said.
He said he saw no mathematical way for Mr.
Sanders to overcome Mrs. Clinton’s delegate lead, and said a protracted
primary fight would occupy time that the Clinton campaign could be using
to prepare for the general election.
