Bernie Sanders beats Hillary Clinton in West Virginia primary to keep very slim presidential hopes alive

The Vermont senator comfortably beat Hillary Clinton, while Donald Trump kept marching along

With the Republican race all but decided, Bernie Sanders kept the Democratic presidential primary interesting by beating Hillary Clinton in West Virginia.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, with no competition remaining, continued his all-but-certain path to the general election.

Mrs Clinton, presumed to face Mr Trump in the general election in November, was expected to lose West Virginia, but her loss keeps her rival’s hopes alive. Back in March, the former secretary of state hurt her chances in West Virginia when she said she’d like to see the end of coal, a resource of massive importance in the state.

“We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” Mrs Clinton said, speaking about bringing renewable energy to the region. Her comments did not sit well in West Virginia and helped seal her fate there.

Still, Mr Sanders faces long odds to prevent Mrs Clinton from being the Democratic nominee.

Including superdelegates, the Democratic leaders free to choose which candidate to support, Mrs Clinton needs just more than 150 delegates to clinch the nomination. Mr Sanders needs more than 900.

Since Democratic pledged delegates are awarded based on proportion of the vote, Mr Sanders needs overwhelming victories to catch Mrs Clinton. CNN reported that Mr Sanders would have to win 66 per cent of the remaining vote to catch Mrs Clinton in pledged delegates.

By winning West Virginia, Mr Sanders will shave a tiny bit off Mrs Clinton’s delegate lead, but the victory will mainly serve to keep his support alive and convince people that his rival can’t seal the nomination.

The Clinton campaign had not expected to win West Virginia and on Tuesday she gave a speech in Kentucky, which holds its primary next week, along with Oregon.

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