By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Tuesday, May 10, Democratic voters in West Virginia went to the polls and gave US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) his latest win in his pursuit of the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.
Sen. Sanders said in a statement, “We just got word that we won our 19th state, taking the majority of the delegates in today’s primary in West Virginia.” “Every vote we earn and every delegate we secure sends an unmistakable message about the values we share, the country’s support for the ideas of our campaign, and a rejection of Donald Trump and his values.”
Sanders said, “Now we’re on to two more primaries next week in Kentucky and Oregon, where we also hope to do very well. So let’s keep going.” “We can win Kentucky and Oregon next week and send a powerful message that we’ll fight for our values all the way up to the Democratic convention.”
Sanders said, “There is nothing I would like more than to take on and defeat Donald Trump, someone who must never become president of this country. But I believe that it is not enough to just reject Trump – this is an opportunity to define a progressive vision for America. Voters agree: just today, three new polls showed that we are the best campaign to defeat Trump.” “We fully acknowledge we have an uphill climb ahead of us, but we’re used to that. We have been fighting uphill from the day this campaign began, and we’re going to stay in the race until the last vote is cast. And with your help, I hope to take on Trump, too. Thank you for standing with me.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton still has an enormous lead in the delegate count thanks to Democratic super delegates; but at this point it appears that neither Sanders nor Clinton can reach the 2383 delegate threshold needed to win with bound delegates alone. That means the super delegates, who are not bound to either candidate, have the power to throw this nomination to Clinton, Sanders, or broker the convention and choose a popular third option….to be named later. Secretary Clinton, at this point, has 2,228 delegates to Sanders 1453; though in actual won delegates Clinton leads Sanders by only 1715 to 1428 and Sanders appears to have late momentum.
On the Republican side, New York City billionaire businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. He still needs to get to 1237 delegates though. After winning the Republican Primary in West Virginia on Tuesday, the Associated Press has Donald Trump at 1107, though 49 of those are not bound. Trump is also the projected winner in the Nebraska Primary. All sixteen of Trump’s Republican rivals have suspended their campaigns.
