Hillary Clinton Has Clinched Democratic Nomination, Survey Reports

In a yearlong nomination fight full of surprise twists, from the popularity of Mr. Sanders to the success of Mr. Trump, the revelation that Mrs. Clinton had clinched the nomination was another startling development — especially coming on the eve of major primaries in California, New Jersey and other states. Mr. Sanders added to the drama by refusing to accept the A.P. survey and vowing to fight on, while Mr. Trump argued that he had done more for women than Mrs. Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton was ebullient but also restrained as she received the news at an uncanny moment — almost eight years to the day after she ended her campaign against Barack Obama before a crowd of many teary women and girls. On Monday night, she shared the breakthrough with a jubilant audience at a campaign stop in Long Beach, Calif.

“I got to tell you, according to the news, we are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment, but we still have work to do, don’t we?” Mrs. Clinton said. “We have six elections tomorrow, and we’re going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California.”

Like Mr. Obama eight years ago, Mrs. Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination with the support of hundreds of superdelegates — the party insiders, Democratic officials, members of Congress, major donors and others who help select the nominee. Under Democratic rules, these superdelegates — approximately 720 in all — are allowed to back any candidate they wish and can change their allegiance any time before the Democratic National Convention in July.

Mrs. Clinton has had relationships with many of the superdelegates for years, and her campaign began seeking their support as soon as she entered the race last spring. Mr. Sanders, by contrast, has struggled to win their backing.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders competed most aggressively for so-called pledged delegates — the roughly 4,000 delegates won through state primaries and caucuses.

The A.P. declared Mrs. Clinton the presumptive nominee by reaching out to superdelegates who had not announced which candidate they were supporting, and confirming that enough were backing Mrs. Clinton to get her to the magic number of 2,383.

But her aides were reluctant to proclaim the race over, for fear of depressing turnout on Tuesday — especially in California, where the race remains close — or appearing to take the victory for granted.

Robby Mook, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager, said the A.P.’s call was “an important milestone” but indicated Mrs. Clinton did not intend to declare victory until Tuesday night, when she “will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates.”

Advisers to Mr. Sanders took a dim view of the math. He previously said he would lobby Clinton superdelegates to shift their support to him by arguing that he is the party’s best chance to defeat Mr. Trump, and he particularly plans to target those superdelegates who represent states where Mr. Sanders won primaries and caucuses.

The advisers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Sanders was aiming to win the California primary on Tuesday to bolster his argument to superdelegates that he is the stronger and more popular candidate than Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Sanders, speaking on Monday night at a rally in San Francisco, did not acknowledge the news that Mrs. Clinton had clinched the nomination, and instead defiantly vowed to continue his candidacy to the convention. But he also made clear that Tuesday’s vote was make or break for the future of his campaign.

“Tomorrow is the most important primary in the whole Democratic nominating process — we are going to win here in California,” Mr. Sanders said. He added that if he could win the Tuesday contests in California, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Montana and do well in New Jersey, his campaign would be “going into that convention with enormous momentum.”

Moments before Mr. Sanders took the stage, former State Senator Nina Turner of Ohio led thousands of supporters in a chant shouting, “Fight on. Fight on. Fight on.” It was a sentiment shared by many audience members like Alex Borja, 18, of Castro Valley, Calif., who said he was happy Mr. Sanders had not conceded to Mrs. Clinton and hoped he would remain in the race through the summer.

“I don’t think it’s fair that they have basically coronated Hillary as the nominee from the beginning and, at this point, Bernie still has a chance to win the delegates needed to clinch the nomination at the convention,” Mr. Borja said. He added, however, that he would vote for Mrs. Clinton if she were the nominee.

Mr. Sanders’s campaign spokesman, Michael Briggs, issued a sharply worded statement that refused to accept the A.P. survey.

“It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgment, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee’s clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer,” Mr. Briggs said.

Mr. Trump struck familiar notes on Monday night on Twitter, attacking Mrs. Clinton as unfit for the presidency, but he also put his own spin on making history during an interview with Fox News.

“I was the one that really broke the glass ceiling on behalf of women, more than anybody, in the construction industry,” Mr. Trump said.

For Mrs. Clinton, becoming her party’s presumptive nominee is the latest chapter in a remarkable career that has taken her from being the first lady to being one election away from the from returning to the White House as president.

She planned a victory rally on Tuesday in Brooklyn, but by the time The A.P. had called the contest, she seemed to already be in a celebratory mood, ending a campaign slog that had been expected to come to a close after the early contests but dragged on to just before the final votes were tallied, at a “She’s With Us” concert at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles with John Legend, Christina Aguilera and Stevie Wonder.

Mrs. Clinton had for weeks hardly hid her eagerness to put the primary contests against Mr. Sanders behind her and to turn her full focus to the presumptive Republican nominee, Mr. Trump.

Talking to voters at the Hawkins House of Burgers in the Watts section of Los Angeles, Mrs. Clinton promised to take on Mr. Trump “all the time,” and, earlier that day, she urged Mr. Sanders’s supporters to consider the consequences if Mr. Trump captured the White House.

“Anyone who’s supported me, anyone who has supported Senator Sanders has a lot at stake in this election in preventing Donald Trump from being our president, which I can barely say,” she told reporters on Monday.

But Mrs. Clinton must also work in the coming weeks to improve her own standing with voters, both with Mr. Sanders’s hordes of young supporters and with a majority of registered voters who say they do not like or trust her.

Still, many Democratic allies of Mrs. Clinton did not want to wait until Tuesday’s primaries to celebrate, writing Twitter posts and issuing statements hailing her as the nominee and trying to shift the Democratic Party’s focus and the national political conversation to take aim at Mr. Trump.

Jennifer Granholm, the former Michigan governor who now advises a pro-Clinton “super PAC,” said in an email: “It’s beyond words; incredibly moving for me personally — but premature. We don’t want to crush democracy. Still six states tomorrow whose votes must be counted. It’s crucial to encourage people to vote.”

At Mrs. Clinton’s rally on Monday evening in California, several voters expressed exhilaration at her historic victory. “It’s about time,” said Maria Garibay, a retired manufacturing analyst. But others also braced themselves for a final showdown with Mr. Sanders and ferocious fight against Mr. Trump.

“I hope Bernie goes out gracefully,” said Helen Satorius, a retired high school counselor. “We need to beat Trump, completely and totally. So I think now he needs to just be willing to unite.”

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