It’s a big day in presidential primaries—with contests in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota that will further enshrine Donald Trump as the Republican nominee and help Hillary Clinton finally to put Bernie Sanders out of her field of dreams. By the end of the day, the delegate count will “predict” the outcome of the parties’ nomination conventions next month (July 18-21 in Cleveland for the Republicans, and July 25-28 in Philadelphia for the Democrats).
Trump’s 1239 delegates (1,237 needed for nomination) and stunning, though controversial, victories that edged out 16 other candidates in primary contests have all but secured his position as standard bearer in the general election. But Clinton hasn’t been able to shake a persistent Sanders, despite delegate/superdelegate support (1,812/571, respectively) that yesterday brought her to the 2,383 threshold and the advantages of political longevity, big-money donors and a well-oiled campaign machine.
Leid Stories looks at where the 2016 political season stands right now and why, with today’s roster of primaries, it’s Judgment Day, kinda.