Hillary Clinton Wins Landslide In U.S.V.I., Only 60 Delegates Away From Nomination

ST. CROIX — Hillary Clinton secured a strong victory against Democratic contender Bernie Sanders in the territory on Saturday, picking up all seven pledged delegates as she draws ever closer to reaching the magic number of 2,383, the amount needed to secure the Democratic nomination.

Mrs. Clinton is now only 60 delegates short of that number.

According to Party leaders, Mrs. Clinton won 84.2 percent the vote, while Bernie Sanders totaled 12.2 percent. Mr. Sanders’ numbers were not enough to win him any share of the delegates, as Democratic rules says a candidate must win at least 15 percent of the vote to be eligible.

The victory for Mrs. Clinton follows her husband’s visit to the territory last month, where he promised that a Clinton administration would be an advocate for Virgin Islanders in the areas of healthcare and, critically, the right to vote for president of the United States, which Virgin Islanders and other U.S. territories — including Puerto Rico — currently cannot do.

In speaking on the upcoming Centennial commemoration at an event held on May 16 at the Island Center for the Performing Arts, Mr. Clinton said the transfer of the territory from Denmark to the U.S. on March 31, 1917, “Has been an unmixed blessing for us as Americans but not always for you.”

He added: “I want to get two things out of the way first: Hillary strongly believes that we should do whatever is necessary to let people who are willing to serve this country and support it, vote for president of the United States.” Those remarks received loud cheers and a standing ovation from the audience.

But Mr. Clinton was not done: “Secondly, she strongly believes that you are suffering from part of what has bankrupted Puerto Rico, which is the unequal distribution of healthcare funds and she wants to correct that.”

By addressing the two most important issues to residents, Mr. Clinton placed his wife in a strong position against Mr. Sanders, which paid off in a strong way on Saturday.