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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Latest: Bernie Sanders doesn’t gain much ground on Hillary Clinton

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a rally on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Carson, Calif. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Latest on Tuesday’s primary elections in Kentucky and Oregon (all times Pacific):

9:30 p.m.

Bernie Sanders wasn’t able to net much Tuesday in his bid to catch Hillary Clinton in the delegate race.

He won Oregon, but Hillary Clinton kept it close in Kentucky, where the race was too close to call.

For the night, Sanders picked up 55 delegates to Clinton’s 51. Ten delegates remain to be allocated, pending final vote tallies.

That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton has 1,767 delegates while Sanders has 1,488.

To close that gap, Sanders would need to win 68 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates.

When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 2,291 to Sanders’ 1,528.

She is now just 92 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win.

9:10 p.m.

Donald Trump has won a majority of the delegates in Oregon as he closes in on the Republican nomination for president.

The New York billionaire has won at least 17 delegates in Oregon, though there was a significant protest vote for candidates who have quit the race. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won at least three delegates apiece. There are still five delegates left to be allocated.

With 1,160 delegates, Trump is within 77 delegates of clinching the nomination. Trump is the only Republican left in the race, though Oregon allocates delegates in proportion to the statewide vote, so anyone getting more than 3.5 percent of the vote gets delegates.

8:50 p.m.

Bernie Sanders’ win in Oregon isn’t helping his bid for the Democratic nomination much.

He needed blowout wins in the final stretch of primaries and caucuses to catch up to Hillary Clinton.

Instead, Clinton kept it relatively close in Tuesday’s contests and is maintaining her big delegate lead.

With 61 Oregon delegates at stake, Sanders will pick up at least 28. Clinton will win at least 24.

That comes after the two candidates split the delegates fairly evenly in Kentucky, with that race too close to call.

Fourteen delegates remain to be awarded for the night, pending final vote tallies.

That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton has 1,765 while Sanders has 1,486.

To close that gap, Sanders would need to win 68 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates.

When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 2,289 to Sanders’ 1,526.

8:45 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is closing in fast on the Democratic nomination.

She’s now 96 percent of the way to reaching the 2,383 delegates needed to win.

Just 94 delegates short, Clinton remains on track to clinch the nomination on June 7 with the 8 p.m. EDT poll close in New Jersey.

The next caucuses are in the Virgin Islands on June 4 and Puerto Rico on June 5, with a combined total of 67 delegates at stake.

8:37 p.m.

Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic presidential primary in Oregon after finishing neck-and-neck with front-runner Hillary Clinton in Kentucky.

The win for Sanders adds to his run of successes in the end stage of the Democratic primaries, but it won’t do much to slow Clinton’s march toward the nomination.

Even after Tuesday’s results, Clinton remains on pace to wrap up the nomination in early June.

Among Sanders’ supporters in Oregon was Mary Brewster, a 62-year-old Portland resident.

She says she cast her ballot for Sanders because, she says, “I think we need huge change.”

She says that doesn’t mean she thinks Sanders would be able to enact all his plans if elected. But she says she wanted to “vote for the things I believed in, and then vote for Hillary in the general election.”

8:25 p.m.

Bernie Sanders says at a California rally that it appears he will end up with about “half of the delegates” in Kentucky’s presidential primary.

Sanders says in Carson, California, that he managed to do well in Kentucky even though the state does not allow independents to vote in the Democratic primary. He also notes that Hillary Clinton defeated then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in Kentucky by a large margin in 2008.

Sanders says many people have suggested that he drop out of the presidential race. But he says he’s in the race until the last ballot.

He tells supporters Clinton “might get nervous,” but he thinks his campaign is “going to win here in California.” The nation’s largest state holds its primary on June 7.

8:15 p.m.

Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee have signed a joint fundraising agreement that will allow donors to write checks of up to $449,400.

The agreement, announced late Tuesday night, will allow the Trump campaign to raise cash that the national party can spend on both his campaign and other Republican efforts.

The agreement establishes two committees: The Trump Make America Great Again Committee, between the RNC and the Trump campaign, and Trump Victory, which includes the campaign, the RNC and a list of state GOP parties, including Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, New York and Virginia.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says in a statement money will go toward expanding ground, data and digital operations to elect Republicans “up and down the ballot.”

8:07 p.m.

Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Oregon, adding another state to the presumptive GOP nominee’s tally of victories.

The billionaire businessman started the day by picking up nine delegates in Guam, and was fewer than 100 delegates shy of clinching the Republican nomination for president headed into the Oregon vote.

There were 28 delegates at stake in Oregon’s Republican primary.

8 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is declaring victory in Kentucky’s presidential primary, but her race with Bernie Sanders still remains too close to call.

Clinton says in a statement posted on Twitter that she just won the state’s primary and thanks “everyone who turned out.” She says, “We’re always stronger united.”

With nearly all the votes counted, Clinton holds a narrow lead of less than one-half of 1 percent of the vote.

The Sanders campaign is not immediately saying whether it will challenge the results. Kentucky does not have an automatic recount.

Clinton holds a commanding lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Tuesday’s primaries in Kentucky and Oregon are not expected to change the arc of the Democratic race.

6:45 p.m.

Just 118 short of the delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton remains on track to do so by early June.

Clinton and Sanders each picked up at least 25 delegates Tuesday in Kentucky’s presidential primary.

The margin in Kentucky between the two is less than one-half of 1 percent, which means the race is too close to call.

After the votes in Oregon are counted later Tuesday, the next caucuses are in the Virgin Islands on June 4 and Puerto Rico on June 5, with a combined total of 67 delegates at stake.

If Sanders still hopes to reach the 2,383 needed to win, he would have to pick up an overwhelming 88 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates.

That’s all but impossible under the Democrats’ system of awarding delegates in proportion to the vote, rather than winner-takes-all.

6:33 p.m.

The Democratic presidential primary may be too close to call in Kentucky, but Hillary Clinton is still inching closer to the Democratic nomination – she’s now 95 percent of the way there.

The tight margin in Kentucky between Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders means that the two will split the state’s delegates fairly evenly.

With 55 delegates at stake, Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25. Five delegates remain to be allocated, pending final vote tallies.

That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton now has 1,741 delegates. Sanders has 1,458.

To close that 283 delegate gap, Sanders would need to win 67 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates.

Clinton’s lead is wider when including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate.

She has 2,265. That’s 95 percent of the 2,383 needed to win. Sanders has 1,498.

Oregon voters also were casting ballots Tuesday, with 61 delegates at stake.

6:27 p.m.

The Democratic presidential primary in Kentucky between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is too close to call.

With almost all the votes counted, the margin between the two candidates is less than 1 percent.

That’s a result that won’t change the overall arc of the race for the Democratic nomination.

The two rivals will more or less split the delegates available in the state. That’s a victory for Clinton, as she pushes ever closer to securing her party’s nomination.

Thanks to party rules that award delegates proportionally, the former secretary of state has maintained her steady march toward securing the 2,383 delegates it takes to win their party’s nomination.

Clinton began the night just 140 delegates shy of that number.

Democrats were also holding a presidential primary Tuesday in Oregon.

5:30 p.m.

Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly are calling a truce.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee and the star Fox News anchor sat down for an interview broadcast Tuesday nearly nine months after their feud began.

Trump took offense in August to a question Kelly asked during a Republican debate and, in the months that followed, repeatedly attacked her on Twitter.

In the interview, which was taped a few weeks ago, Trump appeared sheepish when pressed by Kelly on how he described her as a “bimbo” on Twitter.

He also said he understood that Kelly was simply doing her job and he “liked” where their relationship was now.

He also seemed chagrined that he retweeted a post that mocked the looks of Heidi Cruz, Sen. Ted Cruz’s wife.

4:15 p.m.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in a closely divided race in Kentucky’s presidential primary as the results are reported Tuesday night.

Clinton is trying to avoid losses in Kentucky and Oregon to blunt Sanders’ recent momentum. Clinton holds a formidable lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates but Sanders has won primaries in Indiana and West Virginia as the primary race approaches the final contests in June.

Clinton is on track to clinch the Democratic nomination in early June but she’s trying to avoid primary defeats during the final stretch as she prepares for Republican Donald Trump.

Sanders is favored in Oregon’s primary on Tuesday night.

3 p.m.

Polls are closed across most of Kentucky, where Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton faces rival Bernie Sanders in the state’s presidential primary. They’re open for another hour in about a third of the state.

It’s the first of two primary elections on Tuesday for Democrats, who also are voting in Oregon.

The former secretary of state entered Tuesday’s primaries with a lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders. She also has a wide lead among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates.

Clinton is on track to clinch the Democratic nomination in early June, but is trying to avoid a streak of losses in the final stretch of the primary campaign.

Sanders is coming off recent primary wins in Indiana and West Virginia.

Republicans were also voting Tuesday in Oregon, with presumptive nominee Donald Trump expected to win easily.

10:09 a.m.

Donald Trump has picked up nine delegates in Guam. He now needs fewer than 100 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination for president.

The U.S. territory held its territorial convention in March. The delegates are unbound, which means they are free to support the candidate of their choice. In a statement, the Guam Republican Party said all nine delegates pledged to support Trump on Tuesday.

Trump has 1,143 delegates heading into the Oregon primary on Tuesday. He needs 1,237 to clinch the nomination.

There are 28 delegates at stake in Oregon’s Republican primary.