Clinton Solidifies Lead With Wins In 6 States
MIAMI (AP) -- Hillary Clinton widened her lead over Democratic rival Bernie Sanders as minority voters helped her secure key victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia in the Super Tuesday contests.
Sanders won his home state of Vermont as well as Oklahoma and pledged to stay in the race.
Clinton had aimed for a sweep of Southern states in the delegate-heavy series of primaries and caucuses Tuesday before losing Oklahoma. Both campaigns were vying for support in Colorado, Massachusetts and Minnesota.
"What a Super Tuesday!" Clinton told supporters in Miami as the results came in. "We will need all of you to keep volunteering, doing everything you can, talking to your friends and neighbors, because this country belongs to all of us."
Clinton and her allies have already shifted some attention to Donald Trump, casting the Republican front-runner as divisive and unprepared to lead the country. "It's clear tonight that the stakes in this election have never been higher and the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been lower," she said.
All told, Clinton and Sanders were competing for 865 delegates in 11 states and American Samoa on Tuesday, the biggest single-day prize of the 2016 campaign.
Clinton is now assured of winning at least 318 delegates on Tuesday. Sanders will receive at least 124.
According to the AP's count, Clinton now has at least 866 delegates, including super delegates -- the party leaders and members of Congress who can support any candidate. Sanders has received at least 211. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.
Black voters powered Clinton to victory in South Carolina last weekend and gave her a huge advantage throughout the South.
Of the seven Southern states that voted Tuesday, Clinton got more than 8 in 10 black votes everywhere but Oklahoma, where three-quarters of blacks backed her. Blacks made up made up more than a quarter of the votes overall. But that ranged from nearly half in Alabama and Georgia to about 15 percent in Oklahoma and Texas.
Greta Lewis voted with her mother at the Central Christian Church in Memphis. Both women are black and chose Clinton.
"She has been the one who has stepped out to at least try to identify with most of the minorities, whether they're women, black, Asian, Hispanic," said Lewis, a 31-year-old receptionist at her mother's dental office.
Exit polling also showed voters pushing to continue President Barack Obama's policies rather than the kind of leftward shift championed by Sanders.
Clinton visited Minnesota before heading to Miami, foreshadowing the importance of Florida for the general election.
Sanders decamped to his home in Burlington, Vermont. He has vowed to stay in the race until the party's convention -- and he showed no signs of retreating as he addressed a raucous rally of supporters after the Vermont polls closed.
"Thirty-five states remain and let me assure you that we are going to take our fight for economic justice, for social justice, for environmental sanity, for a world of peace, to every one of those states." Sanders said.
The event had the feel of a valedictory for Sanders, who said he was "so proud to bring Vermont values all across this country."
Despite his obstacles, the Vermont senator has little incentive to fold. He reported raising more than $42 million in February, a sign that he will have the money to go deep into the spring.
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Thomas reported from Essex Junction, Vermont. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
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(Copyright 2016 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
