Sanders’ West Virginia win makes up little ground on Clinton

The former secretary of state lost her party’s primary there Tuesday while businessman Donald Trump cruised to victory on the Republican ballot.

Both states are expected to go for the GOP nominee in November, but even in the Democratic primary there were schisms that exposed opportunities for Trump in the fall – and that suggest why Democrats aren’t confident about a general election win despite Clinton’s early advantage.

Key Senate Republicans voiced optimism Tuesday about Donald Trump’s presidential prospects in November, the clearest signal yet to the GOP rank and file to unite behind the bombastic billionaire and turn their energy against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Updated with more primary results: Hillary Clinton remained unable to shake off Bernie Sanders today: The Vermont senator was projected (first by NBC News) to win the Dem primary in West Virginia shortly after polls closed there. An additional 2 in 10 said they wouldn’t vote for either candidate.

Quinnipiac’s poll also found that Sanders, a democratic socialist who commands an enthusiastic following on the left, would do better against Trump than Clinton in all three states if he were the Democratic nominee.

With victories in IN and now West Virginia, Bernie Sanders has started another winning streak against Hillary Clinton. When the so-called super delegates are added to the count, Clinton has 2,224 delegates, a short distance to the 2,383 needed to secure the Democratic nomination.

Ms Clinton and Mr Sanders will compete in another primary contest in OR on 17 May. “What a candidate does is make his or her case to the American people”, he said. “I believe we’ll have great unity in the party”, he said on “The O’Reilly Factor”.

“We can’t just pretend to be unified when we know we’re not”, Ryan said in an interview on Tuesday on The Michael Medved Show, where he expressed optimism that he and Trump could patch up their differences before the party’s convention in July. I’ve known about her for 30 years, just like everybody else has.

Bernie Sanders, trailing in delegates and running out of time in his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination, has a renewed request for front-runner Hillary Clinton: Let’s debate. “They have to establish a workable relationship, and I think they will, but that’s not a good way to start”. You can be sure there will be less political correctness, less special interests, less “how many votes can I get if I do this” and “what’s in it for me” type of decisions made. “I’ll announce whoever it will be at the convention” in Cleveland, Ohio, Trump said. Sanders won IN last week and could win several other states slated to vote this month.

Kentucky, Oregon, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, District of Columbia all remain before the primary calendar over the next month, with the Golden State being the plum prize.

Lerer reported from Washington.