Former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has clinched the necessary number of delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee, becoming the first female nominee in United States history. Although hypothetically speaking the superdelegates that voted for Hillary can change their votes, Clinton reached the necessary 2383 delegates after more than 24 superdelegates pledged to vote for Hillary in July.
Senator Sanders, however, is not ready to give up. Prior to Clinton's victory, Sanders said, "At the end of the nominating process, no candidate will have enough pledged delegates to call the campaign a victory. That will be dependent upon superdelegates." Sanders believes the system is rigged against him in favor of Hillary Clinton, and hopes that there will be a contested convention that will work in his favor come July. " In other words, the Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention," Sanders added.
The Sanders campaign believes that the superdelegates and delegates can be swayed over to his side. However, a recent poll by AP shows that only 95 of the total 714 superdelegates remain publicly uncommitted. Moreover, Hillary Clinton has a three million vote lead over Bernie Sanders for the popular vote with a total of approximately 13 million votes.
According to AP, Clinton currently has a total of 2383 delegates and Sanders has 1569 delegates. Of Clinton's 2383 delegates, 571 are superdelegates as opposed to Sanders' 48 superdelegates. There are six primaries left (Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, New Jersey, New Mexico, and California), all of which are taking place today. Of these six primaries, 694 total delegates are at stake. California alone has 475 delegates at stake, and Sanders believes if he wins California that he may have an even greater chance at wining the nomination.
In an interview on State of The Union with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday, Sanders said, "She is ahead of us right now, no question. But California is coming up. We've got 475 pledged delegates here. You don't know what the world is going to be like four weeks from now, five weeks. But let's not forget the Democratic convention is the end of July. That's a long time from today."
While Sanders has been relentless in his campaign to win the nomination, the math does not look to be in his favor. There is speculation that Sanders may launch an independent campaign if he loses the nomination. However, today is the day that can make all the difference. If Sanders wins California and some other key states, he may have a better shot at swaying the votes of the superdelegates. On the contrary, if he loses California and the other states, it looks like he will either have to hope for a contested convention or plan to launch a third-party run. Either way, Clinton seems to be the favorite and will likely be the official nominee under either circumstance.
