Bernie Sanders wins in Oregon; Clinton claims Kentucky is hers

Bernie Sanders won Oregon's presidential primary and battled Hillary Clinton to a neck-and-neck outcome in Kentucky on Tuesday, vowing to soldier on as Clinton sought to blunt his momentum ahead of her likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump.

The race in Kentucky was too close to call, but Clinton wrote on her Twitter feed: "We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. We're always stronger united."

Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky State Board of Elections chair, told CNN that unofficial results pointed to a Clinton win in the state. Grimes is a Clinton supporter.

With almost all the votes counted, Clinton held a narrow lead of less than one-half of one per cent as she tried to avoid ending the primary season with a string of losses to the Vermont senator. A sizable win in the state's two biggest cities, Louisville and Lexington, appeared to tip the balance for her, with Sanders winning many of the rural counties.

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Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon, where Sanders was declared the winner shortly after the polls closed in the liberal-leaning state.

Oregon was far from a blowout for Sanders, with Clinton's showing guaranteeing her at least 24 of the 61 Oregon delegates. Sanders will gain at least 28.

Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25 delegates each in Kentucky, with the remaining five delegates to be allocated pending final vote tallies.

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 Kentucky and Oregon were not expected to change that and the former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination in early June.

Rallying supporters in California, Sanders said he would press forward even though he would need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to overtake Clinton.

"As of today I am proud to tell you that taking on virtually the entire Democratic establishment, almost all the senators, the members of the House, mayors, governors, we have won over 45 per cent of the pledged delegates," an unbowed Sanders told his supporters from Carson, Calif.

Tuesday's elections took place amid new questions about party unity following a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada. Supporters of Sanders tossed chairs and made death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas, arguing the party leadership rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton.

Trump inching closer to nomination

In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement on Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as "nonsense" and said his supporters were not being treated with "fairness and respect."

Trump was declared the winner of the night's sole Republican contest in Oregon, less than 10 minutes after polls closed.

Trump won at least 17 delegates in Oregon, though there was a significant protest vote, with over 31 per cent of votes 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.

The billionaire businessman picked up nine delegates earlier Tuesday in Guam.

In Kentucky, the former secretary of state Clinton visited black churches, a small-town diner and held rallies on Sunday and Monday in an effort to break up Sanders' momentum after his recent victories in Indiana and West Virginia.

Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, was the last Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election — he won Kentucky in 1992 and 1996 — and the former first lady tried to emphasize those ties in the days leading up to the primary.

"I'm excited about the primary but we've got to turn a lot of people out," Clinton told a packed diner in Paducah, Ky., on Monday. "I'll tell you this. I'm not going to give up on Kentucky in November. I want to help to bring back the kind of economy that worked for everybody in the 1990s."

Facing a choice between Clinton and Sanders, physician Annie Skaggs in Campbellsville, Kentucky, said she had a hard time making up her mind.

"I like them both. I wanted to put them both in a blender and whir them up together," she said. "I voted for Hillary. She's got a little broader base and more experience, especially with foreign policy."

Sharon Sharp said she voted for Sanders for one reason: He is not Hillary Clinton.

"Benghazi and the emails? That's just too much to trust her to run my country," Sharp said after casting her vote.

Sanders had been favoured in Oregon, which is among the nation's most liberal states. He had secured the endorsement of Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., in April.

California contest ahead

Nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Democratic candidates are preparing for June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states. When pledged delegates and superdelegates are combined, Clinton is now about 96 per cent of the way toward securing the Democratic nomination.

Sanders has vowed to campaign through the end of the primary season on June 14 in the District of Columbia and amass as many delegates as possible to influence the party's platform and message.

He is still aiming to wrestle the nomination from Clinton, even though he would need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie.

Sanders campaigned Monday and earlier Tuesday in Puerto Rico, which holds its contest on June 5.