Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is celebrating his primary win in West Virginia, telling a rally in Salem, Oregon that “we have an uphill climb ahead of us but we are used to fighting uphill climbs.”
Sanders said to loud cheers Tuesday evening that a host of polls, both nationally and in various states, shows he’d do better than Hillary Clinton in a fall election campaign against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The Vermont senator declared that “we are going to fight for every last vote” and will take his campaign to the party’s convention in Philadelphia in July.
Sanders is netting five delegates more than Clinton after winning West Virginia.
With 29 delegates at stake Tuesday, Sanders gained at least 16 delegates while Clinton picked up at least 11. Two delegates remain to be allocated, pending final vote tallies. Based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton has 1,716 delegates to Sanders’ 1,430.
Among those voting in the West Virginia Democratic primary, about a third said they would support presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over either Clinton or Sanders in November. An additional 2 in 10 said they wouldn’t vote for either candidate. But 4 in 10 also said they consider themselves to be independents or Republicans, and not Democrats, according to exit polls.
Trump calls it a “great honor” to win primary elections in West Virginia and Nebraska.
The billionaire businessman says in a statement after Tuesday’s elections that his time campaigning in both states was a wonderful and “enlightening” experience.
Trump says, “I learned a lot, and that knowledge will be put to good use towards the creation of businesses, jobs and the strengthening and revival of their economies.”
Trump says he plans to return to both states soon, and win them in the general election this November.