Sanders wins Wyoming to extend victory run

NEW YORK – Democratic White House hopeful Bernie Sanders extended his winning streak in his bid to pull off a shock and defeat Hillary Clinton, grabbing victory in the Wyoming Democratic caucuses Saturday, US media said.

The state — which is overwhelmingly Republican — awards only 14 delegates, meaning Sanders barely puts a dent in Clinton’s more than 200-delegate lead, but it gives the self-described democratic socialist another morale boost ahead of the crucial New York primary on April 19.

The Vermont senator won 56 percent of the Wyoming vote to 44 percent for Clinton, CNN projected, with most ballots counted.

Clinton remains the clear frontrunner for the Democratic party ticket for November’s general election, but Sanders has the momentum and has enjoyed a string of successes at the polls.

Sanders’s wife interrupted his remarks at a campaign rally in New York Saturday with news of his latest victory.

Sanders quickly relayed the word to the crowd of several hundred people: “All right. News bulletin. We just won Wyoming.”

After a standing ovation, he joked that there are probably more people at his event than live in Wyoming.

Wyoming distributes its candidates by percentage of the vote, so Sanders picked up just seven of the state’s 14 delegates to Hillary Clinton’s six. One delegate remains to be assigned, pending a final vote tally.

The victory means Sanders has now won 16 states, compared to Clinton’s 18. But it will do little to change the overall delegate count. To date, Clinton has 1,286 delegates based on primaries and caucuses to Sanders’s 1,037.

Sanders still needs to win 68 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates if he hopes to take the Democratic nomination. It takes 2,383 to win.