Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are competing in one last Super Tuesday primary, with six states heading to the polls. California is by far the most important state, where survey show the two rivals locked in a dead heat.
08 June 2016
Bernie Sanders has claimed his first victory of the night in the North Dakota caucuses while Hillary Clinton has won New Jersey and is leading the polls in South Dakota, New Mexico.
'Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into her private hedge fund...It is a sad day in America when foreign government's have greater influence than the country's people," said Trump who said he would speak about the Clintons' and their foundation on Monday. "I had to give back to my country that has been so good to me, and to my family."
'I am going to be America's champion' Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said from his headquarters after his total 37 primary wins.
The Associated Press calls New Jersey for Clinton.
Polls close in New Mexico and South Dakota.
RT's Brigida Santos is talking to Bernie Sanders supporters ahead of his rally in Santa Monica, CA
The only GOP candidate standing, Donald Trump, set to win New Jersey
07 June 2016
The polls in New Jersey have officially closed.
The next set of polls to close will be parts of North and South Dakota at 7 p.m. Central Time. In North Dakota, all voting will end no later than 9 p.m. Mountain Time, while the remaining polls will close in South Dakota at 7 p.m. MT.
Around two million Californians are now voting by mail, a new record. Meanwhile, a number of voting irregularities have been reported in the State. RT America’s Lindsay France breaks them down in this edition of FishTank, and speaks with correspondent Brigida Santos, who visited polling places in Los Angeles, and experienced issues with voting herself.
Then, France is joined by author Liza Featherstone, who edited the book ‘False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Clinton’ and feminist writer and radio host Katie Halper to talk about Clinton as a feminist.
Not long after that discussion happened on air, Clinton released a video reflecting on her place in the Women's Rights movement.
Bernie Sanders will continue campaigning after Tuesday's primaries. He's headed to Washington, DC ahead of next week's last-in-the-nation primary there.
Accidentally showing up to the wrong polling place isn't going to stop one New Jersey man from voting.
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, and Tuesday, voters in California and five other states will help bring the Democratic primary to an end. Bernie Sanders has campaigned hard to keep Hillary Clinton within reach in the Golden State. Earlier, RT America’s Brigida Santos visited polling places in Los Angeles, and show she reports on the latest from the crucial state.
Stay tuned to RT America's coverage of the primaries and caucuses in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota today.
There are no confirmed reports on the voter turnout in California, but speculation has already begun that the AP report may have depressed it.
Sanders has sent out a call for a high turnout.
His campaign manager Jeff Weaver criticized AP for calling the election for Clinton, saying it could have discouraged people in six states from voting.
"What's the point of suppressing voter turnout in six states across the country to have a quick news hit that could easily have been done tonight?" Weaver said on CNN.
While CNN is reporting Clinton is "hours away from declaring historic victory," Sanders is in Los Angeles, where he intends to campaign for the rest of the day and appear on NBC News.
Most of the social media exchanges regarding the primaries today has consisted of Sanders and Clinton supporters going at each other.
Donald Trump, usually very active on Twitter, hasn't said anything since last night.
Six hours into the polling in California, calls for people to get out and vote continue – as do reports of problems with the voter rolls, polling places and provisional ballots.
University of California - Irvine is pointing out it may have the "coolest place to vote": the Tolkien room.
"Hard to beat Middle Earth!" UC-Irvine said in a tweet.
“I was expecting more of a line," but there wasn’t much of one, a first-time voter in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles told RT America’s Nick Hankoff.
“We mostly came here for Bernie,” another young voter said, commenting on the other primary races.
Earlier, a voter who likewise supported Sanders said he might vote for Trump if Clinton carries the Democratic nomination.
Stay tuned for more live reports from the California primary on RT America's Periscope and Facebook page.
A North Carolina superdelegate announced Monday that she would be supporting Sanders.
“He can beat Trump and we cannot have Donald Trump,” said Patricia Cotham, a Mecklenburg County commissioner, according to Politico. “The polls show that [Sanders] has a better chance of beating him than Secretary Clinton does. That's just how I came to it.”
Cotham made her announcement about an hour before AP said that Clinton had enough superdelegates to claim the nomination.
Sanders used the fact that AP had called the election for Clinton on Monday night to call on his supporters to show the "political press" that the race isn't over before everyone votes.
Clinton, on the other hand, shared a tweet from June 7, 2008 calling for voters to put a woman in the White House. That was the day she conceded the race to Barack Obama.
Voters in the California Democratic primary should demand "crossover" ballots rather than accepting provisional ballots, as the latter do not count, Sanders supporters have been cautioning throughout the day. The issue does not seem to be affecting Clinton.
RT America's Nick Hankoff spoke with some first-time voters in Los Angeles, California.
The satirical news site The Onion is poking fun at Clinton's reported victory even before Tuesday's primaries.
Some of the voters are making a point to cast their ballots despite the reports.
RT America's Nick Hankoff talked to voters in Los Angeles about the California primary.
Sanders backers, such as actress Rosario Dawson, are urging Democrats to vote, arguing that their votes still matter despite the media announcing Clinton's victory.
RT's Brigida Santos reports about problems at California polling stations.
In addition to the presidential primaries, Californians are also voting on candidates vying to succeed Barbara Boxer, who is retiring after 24 years in the Senate.
Under a 2010 California law, the top two candidates in the open primary advance to the general election. With two Democrats – Attorney General Kamala Harris and US Representative Loretta Sanchez – polling far ahead of everyone else, the state may have its first ever single-party election come November, Reuters reported.
Home of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and once reliably GOP, California last elected a Republican to the Senate in 1988.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrats in the House, endorsed Clinton on Tuesday morning.
“I’m a voter in California and I have voted for Hillary Clinton for president of the United States and proud to endorse her for that position,” Pelosi said on ABC's Good Morning America.
Pelosi, who is a superdelegate, added that "it's not over 'til it's over" and that California and five other states still need to vote, however.
RT America's Nick Hankoff is in Los Angeles, covering the California primaries on Periscope and Facebook Live.
The Sanders campaign is refusing to concede the election, responding to the AP announcement of Clinton's victory with a reminder the superdelegates don't count until the DNC convention in July.
“It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are ignoring the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer,” the campaign said in a statement.
“Secretary Clinton does not and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then,” the statement added. "Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump."
Problems at polling stations in California continue, however.
Meanwhile, Gov. Chris Christie has shown up to vote in New Jersey's Republican primary. Voting in the Garden State seems to be running smoothly.
With the AP announcement Monday night that Clinton has enough votes for the nomination, there have been concerns among voters that their votes may not even matter in the grand scheme of things.
Almost as soon as the polls opened in California, there were reports of glitches and problems.
Polls have opened in California.
Polling places in New Jersey have been open since 6 am. Clinton is predicted to carry the state, with all surveys giving her a lead of up to 27 percentage points.
An hour before polls open in California, Sanders supporters are urging people to vote despite Monday's announcement by AP that Clinton has enough delegates to be the nominee.
Polls have officially opened in New Mexico and Montana.
Bernie Sanders has urged voters in New Jersey and South Dakota to head to the polls.
The Tuesday polls come just one day after AP reported that Clinton had already secured the number of pledged delegates and superdelegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.
Sanders remained optimistic, however, noting that superdelegates can change their minds before the Democratic National Convention in July.
Hillary Clinton campaigned in California on Monday, saying she would "fight hard for every single vote" in each of the six states.
Like South Dakota, North Dakota is split between the CST and MDT timezones.
Polling places are opening at different times throughout the state, so voters should check their local stations for accurate information. However, polls will not open later than 9am and will not close earlier than 7pm.
Polling places in the CST timezone have opened in South Dakota. Those in the MDT timezone will open later.
Bernie Sanders campaigned in San Francisco on Monday, calling the Tuesday primary the "most important primary in the whole Democratic nominating process."
Clinton is expected to emerge victorious in New Jersey. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll put her at a 27 point lead above Sanders, while a Quinnipiac survey showed a 14 point lead.
New Jersey represents the second-largest number of delegates up for grabs, coming in behind California. A total of 126 delegates are at stake in the Garden State.
Polls have opened in New Jersey, and will continue to remain open until 8pm EST.
The six states voting in Tuesday's primary are California, New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, and North Dakota.