Hillary Clinton was declared the “unofficial winner” of Kentucky’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is projected to win Oregon’s primary.
According to the Associated Press, with 99 percent of precincts reporting in the Bluegrass State, Clinton had 46.8 percent of the vote compared to Sanders’ 46.3. The tight race is a surprise given that Clinton won the 2008 primary over Barack Obama by 35 points.
Though the race is officially too close to call, Kentucky’s secretary of state, Alison Lundergan Grimes, told CNN that she believes Clinton will win the contest.
“I do believe…that based on what we are seeing coming in, that Kentucky will remain in a win column for the Clintons,” Grimes, a Clinton supporter, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “Hillary Clinton will be the unofficial winner.”
Meanwhile, Sanders was declared the projected winner of Oregon. The democratic socialist had received nearly 53 percent of the vote compared to Clinton’s 47 percent after 60 percent of precincts were counted.
A poll conducted by news outlets in Portland, Ore. earlier this month had Clinton leading Sanders 48 to 33. In 2008, Clinton lost to then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in that primary with 41 percent of the vote. Obama received 59 percent of the vote.
In Kentucky, Clinton has campaigned heavily in recent weeks but has faced headwinds because of comments she made earlier this year about shutting down the coal industry and putting coal miners out of work.
The eastern part of the state is tied to the coal industry. Clinton’s remarks have been blamed for her weak showing during last week’s West Virginia primary. Sanders won that contest 51 percent to 36 percent.
Despite signs of weakness for Clinton, Sanders will still have to pull off a massive upset in remaining primaries if he is to have any chance of securing the party’s nomination.
With 1,052 delegates still available prior to Tuesday’s primaries, Sanders’ only shot at winning the nomination is to secure a significant number of delegates in the remaining primaries and to sway a huge swath of Clinton superdelegates to his side before July’s convention.
Sanders currently has 1,433 pledged delegates — or those that are apportioned based on votes in primaries and caucuses — and 40 unpledged delegates, or so-called superdelegates.
Clinton has 1,716 pledged delegates and 524 superdelegates for a total of 2,240 total delegates.
That puts her within striking distance of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination.