By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. June 6, 2016: Democratic Presidential front-runner and former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, marched on towards securing the 2,383 delegates she needs to win the Democratic presidential nomination with back-to-back wins over the weekend in the US’ two Caribbean territories.
“We just won Puerto Rico! ¡Gracias a la Isla del Encanto por esta victoria!,” Clinton tweeted last night shortly after major news networks called the Puerto Rico Primary for her. At press time, reports showed Clinton winning 64 percent of the vote on the island compared to 34 percent for Bernie Sanders, handing her a majority of the territory’s 60 pledged delegates but not a sweep as she had probably hoped.
Her win in Puerto Rico came as the island’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, threw his support behind Clinton last week, offering the former secretary of state an endorsement on Wednesday in a Spanish-language statement.
On Saturday, Clinton won all seven delegates in the other US Caribbean territory – the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Nationals in both Puerto Rico and the U.S.V.I can vote in primary elections but not in general elections.
The contests served as a warm-up act for the big prize which is tomorrow’s slate of Democratic Primaries in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, Montana and South Dakota.
Clinton had 2,323 delegates – including 1,769 pledged delegates and 547 super delegates before Sunday’s election while Sanders had 1,547 delegates total – 1,501 pledged and 46 super delegates.
