The networks are calling it for Clinton a mere 40 minutes after the polls closed in New York, handing the frontrunner a convincing (if expected) victory after she lost a string of smaller states to Sanders over the past month. With 40 percent of the votes counted, Clinton is leading 60.5 percent to 39.5 percent, despite Sanders drawing large, eye-catching crowds in New York City and outspending Clinton two to one on the airwaves. None of it could dent her advantages in her adopted home state.
Her victory comes after a day of loud complaints from Sanders supporters who felt they had been “disenfranchised” by rules that prevented registered independents and third-party members from switching to the Democratic Party on election day. One question going forward, as my colleague Alex Shephard writes, is whether such complaints will taint Clinton’s victory. But at this point it looks like Clinton’s march to the nomination is going to be impossible to stop.