Victory for Hillary: New York Democrats pick Clinton in primary, dealing huge blow to Bernie Sanders

Clinton and Trump take the Empire State and set up the general election match-up

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published April 20, 2016 1:59AM (EDT)

HIllary Clinton   (AP/Seth Wenig)
HIllary Clinton (AP/Seth Wenig)

Hillary Clinton has been declared the winner of the Democratic presidential primary in New York by the Associated Press.

While early exit polls had Clinton only leading in her adopted home state over the Brooklyn-born Bernie Sanders by a few points, with 98 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton now leads 58 percent to 42 percent. Polling going into Tuesday's surprisingly closely contested vote had the former New York senator beating the Vermont Independent senator by an average of 12 points.

Clinton's win was called 45 minutes after polls closed in the Empire State.

For a quick-and-dirty breakdown of early exit poll data of how New York's Democrats split their votes, 538's Harry Etnen:

Sanders is winning voters ages 18 to 24 by a margin of 85 percent to 15 percent, while Clinton is winning voters ages 65 and over by a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent. Among racial groups, Sanders carries whites by 9 percentage points, while Clinton takes Latinos by 18 percentage points and blacks by 43 percentage points.

Despite drawing big crowds in all of New York City's boroughs, according to WYNC's data news team, Sanders perhaps underperformed in some of his bases of support throughout the city while Clinton's dominance in other areas appeared overwhelming.

Get the latest election results here, via the New York Times.


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

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2016 Democratic Primary Bernie Sanders Election 2016 Elections 2016 Hillary Clinton