LOS ANGELES, June 6 (UPI) — Hillary Clinton has clinched the Democratic Party nomination for president, NBC and ABC news projected Monday night.
The announcement came a day before the final six primaries are due to take place in the states of New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico and especially California, with the most delegates in the country.
The two networks are estimating Clinton reached the 2,383 threshold by adding the 36 delegates Clinton picked up in Sunday’s victory in Puerto Rico to her current delegate count and her expected number of superdelegates.
By NBC’s count, Clinton now has 1,812 pledged delegates and 572 superdelegates, while Sanders has 1520 pledged and 46 superdelegates.
According to the ABC News estimate, Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates and 571 superdelegates. Sanders has 1,522 pledged delegates and 48 superdelegates.
The Bernie Sanders campaign declared the announcement “a rush to judgement.”
The Clinton campaign downplayed any early projections, trying not to discourage voter turnout in the six states.