Hillary Clinton Wins New York Democratic Primary

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged as the clear winner Tuesday night of New York State's 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

All major news networks had declared Clinton the state winner by 9:45 p.m.

Exit polls released earlier Tuesday showed Clinton and her competitor, underdog candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, neck-and-neck in New York.

However, by late Tuesday night, Clinton was leading Sanders by more than 15 points — giving her a commanding lead.

Democratic Primary (98% of vote counted)

Clinton: 57.9 percent (135 delegates)

Sanders: 42.1 percent (104 delegates)

The Republican primary race was an even simpler call: Donald Trump was declared the easy winner pretty much as soon as the ballot count began. The Manhattan real-estate mogul was giving his victory speech by 9:30 p.m.

Clinton was gave hers around 10:20 p.m., with more than half the New York ballots counted.

"This one's personal," Clinton said to a crowd of supporters in Manhattan late Tuesday. "New Yorkers, you've always had my back — and I've always tried to have yours. Today, we did it again."

Sanders' supporters raised a ruckus Tuesday about faulty opening times and missing voter names at Brooklyn polling stations — prompting the NYC Mayor and Comptroller to call for an investigation into the city's Board of Elections.

It's unclear how Tuesday's in-limbo ballots might factor into the New York tally, once all is said and done. But Sanders desperately needed a clear win over Clinton — or at least a tie — in New York to charge ahead in the primaries.

"The race for the Democratic nomination is on the home stretch, and victory is in sight," Clinton said in her New York victory speech.

Clinton then brought up gun control — an issue dividing her and Sanders — and told her opponent's supporters, "There is much more that unites us than divides us."

For the past two weeks, Clinton and Sanders have barnstormed New York — which both call home to some degree — in hopes of capturing a majority of the 291 delegates up for grabs. Sanders was born and raised in Brooklyn, while Clinton served two terms as a U.S. Senator representing New York and has a house in Chappaqua (north of Manhattan).

Clinton held polling leads in New York throughout the course of the primary season, but Sanders was steadily closing the gap, and some hoped he could be in line for yet another upset victory.

According to a RealClearPolitics average of major polls, Clinton lead Sanders by 11.7 percentage points heading into the voting.

In pledged delegates, Clinton held a 1,289 to 1,045 advantage, and her 469 superdelegates compared to his 31 gave her a sizable lead in the race. That divide becomes even larger — and near impossible for Sanders to surmount, unless he wins over some more superdelegates — after Clinton's big win in New York.

Images via Gage Skidmore/Flickr