DEMOCRATIC ELECTION: Clinton takes 4 of 5, Sanders vows to keep fighting

Clinton leads Sanders 1,622-1,282 in delegate count 

WASHINGTON — The Latest in the Democratic presidential nomination as voters went to the polls in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Maryland: 

10:30 p.m. 

Hillary Clinton is collecting several dozen more delegates than Bernie Sanders on Tuesday after winning four out of five states. 

With 384 delegates at stake, Clinton is assured of winning at least 194 for the night. Sanders will gain at least 129. Many delegates remain to be allocated, pending final vote tallies. 

That means to date, she now has 1,622 delegates based on primaries and caucuses. Sanders has 1,282. 

9:50 p.m. 

An indicted Pennsylvania congressman facing his first primary fight in two decades has lost the Democratic primary just before the start of his federal corruption trial. 

Eleven-term U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah had been outspent in the race as he struggled to raise funds for both the campaign and his defense lawyers. He was ousted on Tuesday by a 36-year state lawmaker, Rep. Dwight Evans, in his first primary fight in two decades. 

Fattah has represented the Philadelphia region in Washington for two decades and served on the powerful Appropriations Committee. 

He’s accused of accepting bribes and misusing campaign funds and charitable grants to enrich his family and friends. 

He has called the seven-year FBI probe that’s ensnared his son and close aides a political witch hunt. He says he has done nothing wrong. 

Jury selection in his trial starts next week. 

9:40 p.m. 

Hillary Clinton is now at least 90 percent of way to clinching the nomination, having won four of the five primaries Tuesday. 

If Sanders hopes to overtake Clinton in those delegates, he would need to win 65 percent of the remaining delegates through June, having lost ground on Tuesday.  

9:35 p.m. 

With just seven weeks left in the primary process, Hillary Clinton’s spokeswoman says the campaign is preparing for the general election. 

“It’s certainly prudent at this point and necessary to prepare for a general election,” Jennifer Palmieri said after Clinton won four out of Tuesday’s five contests. “And we have been making preparations and will continue to do so as the next seven weeks wind down.”

After Clinton made an appeal to “thoughtful Republicans” on Tuesday night, Palmieri said the campaign believes Clinton can have broad appeal. 

“There’s certainly not anyone in the general electorate that we don’t want to feel welcome on our side,” she said. 

On building party unity, Palmieri said that Sanders has said he will “do whatever he can to make sure the Republican is not elected in the fall. And we take him at his word that that’s what he wants to do.” 

9:26 p.m. 

Democrats in Pennsylvania have gone with their party establishment’s choice for a U.S. Senate candidate and rejected an ex-congressman who six years ago nearly won the office. 

Katie McGinty is a former state and federal environmental policy official who got millions in dollars from the party to run her campaign. She also received the endorsements of top Democrats from President Barack Obama on down. 

She defeated second-time candidate Joe Sestak (SEHS’-tak), a retired Navy admiral the party didn’t consider a team player. Two other candidates finished far behind in Tuesday’s voting. 

McGinty will challenge Republican incumbent Pat Toomey (TOO’-mee) in the November election. Toomey was unopposed for the Republican nomination. 

This is McGinty’s second run for statewide office. She finished last in a four-way gubernatorial primary in 2014. 

The fall contest could tilt control of the Senate. 

9:25 p.m. 

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says his campaign has a “very narrow path” to the nomination despite losses in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware on Tuesday. 

Sanders says California’s primary in June is “very important to us” and he thinks every voter should have “the right to vote for whom they want to see as president of the United States.”

Even though his campaign is trailing Hillary Clinton, Sanders says, “We are going to fight for every delegate” to the Democratic convention to influence the party’s agenda. 

Sanders notes that he won in Rhode Island, which was the only state in Tuesday’s contests that allowed independents to participate in the Democratic primary. He says independents will be important in the fall election and superdelegates should take that into consideration.  

9 p.m. 

Rep. Chris Van Hollen has won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maryland. 

Van Hollen won Tuesday night after a long and heated primary against Rep. Donna Edwards for the seat opening due to Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s retirement at the end of her term. 

The campaign became a polarizing battle over race, gender and personality as the two candidates sought to succeed Mikulski, the nation’s longest-serving female senator. Both candidates represent House districts that include the suburbs of the nation’s capital. 

Van Hollen ran on his record as a pragmatic progressive who is able to reach across the political aisle to get things done. Edwards campaigned as a candidate more committed to holding liberal principals without settling for political deals.