Hillary Clinton notches an important primary victory in New York, clearing her way for the Democratic nomination.
New York voters passed judgment on New York’s adopted daughter Hillary Clinton and native son Bernie Sanders in the state’s April 19 primary.
The verdict: Clinton won over New Yorkers, beating the Vermont senator by a 58 to 42 percent margin after the votes were counted. The former secretary of state gained 139 delegates from the contest, and Sanders earned 108. Clinton now leads him by a delegate count of 1941 to 1240, according to CNN.
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In light of Clinton’s New York victory, many political pundits are sounding the death knell for Sanders’ campaign. The senator would need to win 59 percent of the remaining pledged delegates to obtain a majority, and he would require 72 percent of all remaining delegates—superdelegates included—to snatch the nomination from Clinton outright, according to USA Today.
Clinton leads in the pledged delegate count and popular vote by nearly 2.7 million votes, according to RealClearPolitics. In her victory speech, she said that “the race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch, and victory is in sight.”
Clinton called out her Republican rivals Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in her speech, saying their vision for America is “divisive and frankly, dangerous.”
The Democratic front-runner also took time to reiterate her plan on key small businesses issues. She favors raising the minimum wage to $12 at the federal level, and has also said she supports cities—such as San Francisco and Seattle—that have approved $15 minimum wages. Clinton also supports ban the box initiatives, which ban employers from asking potential employees about their criminal records on job applications.
The next Democratic primaries take place on April 26 in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut. Many of those contests are closed primaries, which means only registered Democrats are able to vote. Clinton has performed exceptionally well in these contests so far, and if the polls are accurate, she is poised to do it again.
*Note: This news coverage does not equate to an endorsement of any candidate by NFIB.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore
