U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic primary in Indiana, defying pollsters who predicted a win for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who remains the front-runner in the race for the presidential nomination.
With 92 percent of precincts reporting, Sanders led with 52.7 percent of the vote against Clinton’s 47.3 percent. The win means a gain of at least 42 delegates for Sanders and 36 for Clinton, with 5 delegates still to be allocated.
“I want to thank the people of Indiana for the great upset victory that they gave us tonight. This is the 18th state that we have won, and we expect more victories in the weeks to come,” Sanders said. “The Clinton campaign thinks this campaign is over. They’re wrong.”
Sanders added: “We understand that we have an uphill climb to victory but we have been fighting uphill from the first day of this campaign. We are in this campaign to win and we’re going to fight until the last vote is cast. There is nothing I would like more than to take on and defeat Donald Trump, someone who must never become president of this country.”
Clinton did not immediately comment on her loss in Indiana.
The Democratic primary in Indiana was widely expected to go to Clinton, with opinion poll analysis website FiveThirtyEight putting Clinton’s odds of winning at 90 percent. Most of the polls from Indiana were relatively close, but virtually every poll had put Clinton in the lead.
But despite Sanders’ win in Indiana, Clinton remains the clear front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination, though her many superdelegates still have the option to switch their support to Sanders, which the senator is hoping for.
Tuesday’s primary brings Clinton’s delegate total – including 520 superdelegates – to at least 2,201, while Sanders has 1,399. A candidate requires a total of 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president.
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