California Presidential Primary: Clinton Wins Big, Sanders Vows to Fight On

Updated, 4:15 a.m. Wednesday: With about 94 percent of the statewide vote counted early Wednesday, The Associated Press is projecting that Hillary Clinton has won California's Democratic presidential primary.

Clinton has held a big lead all night, starting out with a margin of 26 percentage points over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in early returns. The edge was still landslide-size, 56 percent (1,837,343 votes) for Clinton to 43 percent (1,412,519 votes) for Sanders, immediately after AP made the call.

The wire service's projection is a pretty safe one.

The 94 percent of the votes counted so far represent "precinct votes" -- those cast at polling places Tuesday -- and mail-in ballots received by Tuesday. The results don't count the typically large number of "walk-in" ballots -- mail ballots that people handed in at the polls Tuesday -- or those that might still be in the mail. Under California law, mail-in ballots must be postmarked on Election Day at the latest and will be counted if they're received within three days (Friday, if you're keeping track at home).

The question for registrars, media organizations, political operatives and partisans of all stripes is how many votes are left to count and whether they might change the outcome.

Based on the California Secretary of State's tally of county voting reports, about 5.7 million ballots had been counted statewide by 3:30 a.m.

How many more are left?

The 5.7 million figure is equivalent to about 31 percent of registered voters. If statewide turnout, including mail-in ballots, was 45 percent, as projected in some quarters, that means that there are roughly 2.3 million votes left to count statewide.

What kind of math would Sanders need to overtake Clinton's current lead of 425,000 votes?

Roughly two-thirds of the votes tallied in the presidential primary so far are Democratic. Assuming that rate holds true for uncounted ballots, about 1.5 million or so of the 2.3 million we're guessing are out there were cast in the Democratic primary.

Sanders would need to get about 965,000 of those outstanding ballots -- about 64 percent -- to overcome Clinton's lead. Almost impossible in a race in which he's pulled in just 43 percent of the votes counted so far.

Original post, last updated 2 a.m. Wednesday

It's late Tuesday night. Do you know where your definitive final vote count is?

Just kidding. You'll have to wait days or weeks for that.

But let's start with what we can say with certainty at this moment. Hillary Clinton is celebrating her apparent victory in a marathon primary campaign that few people saw coming a year ago. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, though trailing badly and with no apparent hope of attaining a delegate majority, is vowing to fight on for at least one more week. And Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for several weeks now, won the GOP primary here in a walkover.

According to the beautifully rendered Los Angeles Times election return site, Trump has gotten about 76 percent of the vote, with 80 percent of precinct votes (and an undetermined number of early ballots) counted.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the next-to-last man standing in what was once a 17-candidate race, has gotten 11 percent of the vote. Next-to-next-to-last man, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, got 9 percent of the vote.

On the Democratic side, things are a little less clear-cut.

Clinton, the front-runner in the Democratic race, held a huge vote lead virtually from the moment counties began posting results upon the closure of polling places at 8 p.m.

As of 2 a.m. Wednesday, Clinton still holds that big edge as votes trickle in. With about 80 percent of precincts reporting, she holds a 56.5 to 42.5 percent lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In a celebration in Brooklyn, Clinton hailed the result of Tuesday's votes, which, with the superdelegates who have reportedly committed to support her at the party's convention, appeared to clinch the nomination for her. From the New York Times:

Reaching for history as she became the first woman to win a major party’s nomination, Mrs. Clinton pledged to build on the achievements of pioneers like the 19th-century leaders at Seneca Falls, N.Y., who began the fight for women’s rights in America.

“Tonight caps an amazing journey — a long, long journey,” Mrs. Clinton said, nearly a century after women won the right to vote nationwide. “We all owe so much to those who came before, and tonight belongs to all of you.”

She also lavished praise on Mr. Sanders, saying that their “vigorous debate” had been “very good for the Democratic Party and America.”

For his part, Sanders appeared at a campaign party in Santa Monica at 10:45 p.m., thanking a wildly cheering throng and vowing to continue his quest to win delegates to the nation's last primary, next week in Washington, D.C.

From The Associated Press:

... Sanders is vowing to continue his quest for the White House, telling supporters in California that he will fight on to compete in next week's primary in Washington, D.C.

Sanders says at a rollicking rally in Santa Monica, California, that after that election, "we take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia."

The Democratic National Convention takes place in Philadelphia next month.

That's where Hillary Clinton will accept the Democratic nomination for president. She has the delegates needed to claim the nomination, and declared victory on Tuesday night in New York.

Sanders says, "I am pretty good at arithmetic. I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight, but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate."

President Obama, who outlasted Clinton in a long, tough primary fight in 2008, said her “historic campaign inspired millions and is an extension of her life-long fight for middle-class families and children.” Obama also praised Sanders for “energizing millions of Americans” and waging a fight that has brought the issue of economic inequality to the fore.

Politico reported that Sanders will meet with the president later this week:

The two spoke on Sunday, according to sources familiar, though the White House declined to comment on the call. But apparently as part of the call, Sanders asked for another Oval Office meeting, following up on the one he flew in for just before the Iowa caucuses.

[White House spokesman Josh] Earnest’s statement said that the meeting will be “to continue their conversation about the significant issues at stake in this election that matter most to America's working families.”

“... The President looks forward to continuing the conversation with Senator Sanders,” Earnest said, “about how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters, and to build on that enthusiasm in the weeks and months ahead.”

Here's Clinton's Brooklyn appearance: