US election 2016: Clinton hails ‘milestone for women’

Hillary Clinton has thanked her supporters for helping her reach a historic moment for women – the US Democratic nomination for president.

“Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone,” she told cheering crowds at a rally in New York.

Mrs Clinton hailed “the first time in our nation’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee”.

Hours later, she won the California Democratic primary, further cementing her hold on the nomination.

In all, she won four of the six states voting in primaries on Tuesday, also taking New Jersey, South Dakota and New Mexico.

Her rival Bernie Sanders found victory in the Montana and North Dakota caucuses and has refused to quit the race.

Polls had suggested the contest in California would be tight, but Mrs Clinton won by a margin of around 13%.

The Associated Press announced the result with more than 91% of the vote in.

Mr Sanders had been hoping for a win in that state, the country’s most populous, to boost his campaign and bolster his claim to be a more viable presidential contender than Hillary Clinton.

As the votes were being counted, he told supporters he would remain in the race and contest the remaining primary in the District of Columbia on 14 June, despite acknowledging it was a “very, very steep fight”.

Mr Sanders aims to sway super delegates to support him instead of Mrs Clinton at the party’s convention in July, but commentators say the Vermont Senator is unlikely to succeed in his bid for the nomination.

The AP news agency reported on Monday that Mrs Clinton already had enough delegates to qualify as the Democratic nominee.

President Barack Obama called both Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders on Tuesday, according to the White House.

He congratulated Mrs Clinton on “securing the delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic nomination for president”.

Mr Sanders will visit Mr Obama at the White House on Thursday, per Mr Sanders’ request, according to the White House memo. They will discuss “the significant issues at stake in this election that matter most to America’s working families”.

Claiming the nomination in a speech in Brooklyn, New York, Mrs Clinton said Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump was “temperamentally unfit” to be president.

“My mother… taught me to never back down to a bully. Which turned out to be pretty good advice,” she said.

Speaking to supporters in Santa Monica, California, Mr Sanders said his campaign would not support Mr Trump, “a candidate whose major theme is bigotry”.

Mr Trump had earlier called on Sanders’ supporters to join him after winning his party’s vote in New Jersey, South Dakota, New Mexico, California and Montana. BBC