Hillary Clinton wins the votes to take on Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton on Monday reflected emotionally about being on the cusp of the Democratic nomination, a feat that would make her the first female nominee for a major political party.

A former USA secretary of state, Clinton would be the first woman presidential candidate of a major US political party.

Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to the nation’s first black president, Clinton held off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Clinton is already looking to the general election, calling herself the presumptive nominee and already taking on Republican nominee Donald Trump. And, good news for the Sanders camp, Clinton’s tendency has been to lose support as voting nears. Bernie Sanders to break through.

Mo Elleithee, executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service and a former Clinton campaign staffer, said her June 2008 concession to Obama in the closely fought Democratic primary that year should be a roadmap for Sanders. “And then we take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania”. It said he congratulated her on securing the delegates necessary to clinch the nomination and would meet Sanders on Thursday at Sanders’ request.

In her speech, Clinton harshly attacked Trump for using divisive rhetoric that belittled women, Muslims and immigrants, and took specific aim at his recent condemnation of an Indiana-born judge of Mexican heritage.

“The stakes in this election are high and the choice is clear”. “So it is time to judge Donald Trump by his words and his deeds”.

During a question-and-answer session with reporters at a community center in Compton, Clinton acknowledged the historic nature of her candidacy and likely nomination after being asked if she feels the “weight of what this means for people”.

Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico also hold nominating contests on Tuesday, but most attention will focus on California.

She is expected to clinch the party nomination on Tuesday when voters in six states cast ballots.

“It’s going to make her ability to seal the deal with disaffected Democrats all that much harder”, said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist who supports Clinton.

On Twitter, she said: “To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want – even president. Tonight is for you”.

But he added: “The president does have a long personal relationship with Secretary Clinton, she served as his secretary of state for more than four years”.

Obama’s approval rating is a potential boon for Clinton, who polls show is in essentially a dead heat with Trump at this point in the campaign.

But those surveyed by AP are adamant they will support Mrs Clinton.

Some Sanders backers may say that process is rigged, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday suggested the president had no qualms about the math.

Clinton now has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses; Sanders has 1,521.

But the delegate count also includes “superdelegates” – party leaders and elected senators, members of Congress and governors – who in theory can change their mind at any time.

Steven Acosta, a 47-year-old teacher living in Los Angeles, voted for Clinton on Tuesday, saying this was partly because he believes she stands a better chance of winning in November.

“I do, I do”, Clinton said. “The problem is that I think Republicans would really unify… even more against him”.

Trump, who became his party’s presumptive nominee last month, outlasting 16 Republican challengers, is struggling to get the party’s leaders solidly behind him after a bitter primary campaign during which he made a series of controversial statements directed at Muslims, Latinos, women and the disabled.

On Tuesday night he addressed a crowd of supporters in NY, welcoming Sanders supporters “with open arms” should they decide to support him and declaring a new phase of the campaign had begun.

“This to me is about saving the country and preventing a third progressive, liberal term, which is what a Clinton presidency would do”, House Speaker Paul Ryan told the AP last week after he finally endorsed Trump, weeks after the New Yorker clinched the GOP nomination. “I know there is a lot of work still going on”.