Hillary Clinton's Total Delegates Right Now

A full year after early rumblings about the Democratic primary field kicked off, and after five candidates ultimately tried their luck at wooing the party's electorate ― Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton ― all 50 states have cast their votes. And unlike 2008, the final winner this time around was the same person the conventional political wisdom suggested it would be: Hillary Rodham Clinton is the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. And if you're wondering how many total delegates Hillary Clinton has right now, you're in luck, because we're right on the edge of the the primary process being well and truly over.

Tuesday, June 7 marked the final, perhaps most dramatic night of the process. Not because the outcome was in doubt ― the AP called the nomination for Clinton a night before the contests in California, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and New Mexico ― but because Clinton herself finally claimed the title of Democratic nominee, amid a hugely disappointing night for Sanders.

The Vermont senator spent weeks campaigning hard in the state of California, and seemed to be validated by late polls showing him in a near dead-heat. But when the votes starting pouring in, the reality looked altogether different ― with 94 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton is currently carrying California by double-digits, bettering her poll numbers heading in.

So, how'd she do on the whole? It's important to remember that her finally delegate tally will look ever-so-slightly different a week from now, because there's still one primary contest still to go ― the Washington, D.C. primary on June 14th, which Sanders pledged to stay in for in his speech on Tuesday night (he also defiantly pledged to take his fight all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next month).

But with Clinton now holding a guaranteed pledged delegate majority, as well as the majority of states won, and a popular vote lead in the millions, this seems as good a time as any to check in. According to The New York Times' delegate tracker, at the time of this writing Clinton has secured 2,184 pledged delegates, up against 1,804 for Sanders. That figure will look slightly different when the last of California's precincts are reported, as there are still 30 more pledged delegates outstanding.

She's also got 571 superdelegates in her corner, ballooning her total up to 2755. While the superdelegates can theoretically change their mind and vote for whomever they want, and a mass exodus could push Sanders over the top, there'd be no historical precedent for that happening. By virtue of Clinton's lead in that crucial troika of categories ― pledged delegates, popular vote, and states won ― Sanders has lost any democratic argument with which to convince the superdelegates to choose him instead.

To the contrary, he can only point to his general election polls against Donald Trump (which are stronger than Clinton's), and on those grounds ask for the nomination to be given to him. There's a reason this has never happened in the 32-year history of the superdelegates; it would be a flatly anti-democratic and inflammatory subversion of the will of the party's electorate. It's the exact type of thing people who hate superdelegates are always worried about, but has never actually occurred.

In other words ― yup, Clinton's going to be nominated in Philadelphia, however long it takes Sanders to make peace with that fact. Obviously the Clinton camp would probably like him to do that sooner rather than later, as this long, arguably less-competitive-than-it-appeared primary season has cost them some weeks of focusing on Trump. But at the same time, they'll want to play nice with him, so to ensure his support in the months to come, and to show a proper amount of respect to his ardent supporters.