Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, pictured April 23 at a rally in Baltimore, looks to win his second consecutive primary over his opponent, front-runner Hillary Clinton, in West Virginia on Tuesday. Clinton has struggled in the state since promising to put coal companies "out of business" because their product is bad for the environment. Photo by Molly Riley/UPI |
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WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Voters in West Virginia headed to the polls Tuesday in the first presidential contest since Donald Trump became the GOP's presumptive nominee and with Democrat Bernie Sanders hoping for a comeback.
While Hillary Clinton remains the clear front-runner, West Virginia looks to be favorable territory for her opponent, Vermont Sen. Sanders. It is next to impossible for Sanders to overtake Clinton in the pledged delegate count with just nine states remaining, but each delegate he secures through the remaining contests strengthens his hand in fighting for a more progressive platform at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia this summer.
Both Trump and Clinton have made some remarks that have proved controversial in West Virginia. In a March town hall event, Clinton sought to shore up her credentials among environmentalists, boasting her policies would "put a lot of coal miners, a lot of coal companies out of business."
The remark may have played well to Clinton's left flank, but now she's facing voters in coal country who have not forgotten what she said. Clinton has since apologized for the statement and said she "misspoke."
For Trump, his blunt approach to campaigning led him to tell voters in the state they didn't have to bother showing up on Tuesday.
"You know, you don't have to vote anymore," Trump said at the rally in Charleston, W.V. "Save your vote for the general election, OK? Forget this one -- the primary is done."
That is not technically true. While it would be nearly impossible to envision any of Trump's opponents somehow upending his nomination after they already suspended their campaigns, Trump does still need voters to show up.
That's because Trump still remains about 200 delegates shy of the 1,237 he needs to officially sew up the nomination. He is in a position to obtain them easily -- whether he still had opposition or not -- but his nomination is still not completely guaranteed, so Trump will have to hope some of his supporters do not heed his advice and do show up to the polls.
Republican voters also head to the polls in Nebraska Tuesday as well. While there has been no polling, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who dropped out of the race last week, said if he were to win in the state thanks to a surge of anti-Trump protest votes in a low turnout election, he would consider resuming his campaign.
Cruz acknowledged the likelihood of a Nebraska victory is scant.
The delegate hauls in each state are relatively small and, especially on the Democratic side, unlikely to change the ultimate trajectory of the race.
In West Virginia there are 37 Democratic delegates and 34 Republican delegates at stake, awarded proportionally on both sides. In Nebraska, there are 36 GOP delegates up for grabs in a winner-takes-all race.
