Clinton has another big night and is poised to become first female major party presidential nominee- Hunter Walker and Liz Goodwin

Hillary Clinton is on the verge of victory in the Democratic presidential primary, winning in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware on Tuesday night. Her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, won in Rhode Island. 

Clinton already appeared on April 19 to be on the path toward clinching the race and becoming the first female major party presidential nominee, when she earned a victory in her home state of New York. At that point, her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was left with an extremely slim chance of earning enough delegates to secure the party’s nomination. Tonight, that possibility all but closed.

Even before Clinton’s four victories, Sanders needed to win every remaining state in the Democratic primary by more than 13 points to surpass her in delegates, a scenario that no polls have predicted. Clinton would be the first female presidential nominee from the Democratic or Republican Party. 

At the Philadelphia Convention Center, Clinton took the stage to the song “Eye of the Tiger.” In a nod to the movie “Rocky,” which is set in the city, she declared the evening a “great night” and looked ahead to the official end of the primary process. 

“With your help, we’re going to come back to Philadelphia for the Democratic convention with the most votes and the most pledged delegates,” Clinton said. “And we will unify our party to win this election and build an America where we can all rise together, an America where we lift each other up instead of tearing each other down.”

Clinton’s remarks included several lines that have not been in her standard stump speech thus far, in which she acknowledged the surprisingly strong challenge Sanders has mounted and some of the core issues of his platform. After starting as a long shot, Sanders earned a string of victories against Clinton by painting her as insufficiently progressive and criticizing her ties to Wall Street and corporate megadonors. In her speech, Clinton argued that Democrats are largely in agreement on these issues.

“We will build on a strong progressive tradition, from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama, and I applaud Sen. Sanders and his millions of supporters for challenging us to get unaccountable money out of our politics and to give greater emphasis to closing the gap of inequality,” Clinton said. “I know together we will get that done, because whether you support Sen Sanders or you support me, there’s much more that unites us than divides us.” 

After the speech, Clinton’s campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri spoke to Yahoo News. Palmieri discussed the Democratic primary in the past tense.

“We had a number of wins tonight. We’re very grateful for them. It’s clearer that she’ll be the nominee. She’s grateful to have won the state of Pennsylvania and to be coming back here in 14 weeks to accept her party’s nomination,” Palmieri said, adding, “We are looking back now on the primary … we’re winding down. We have — there’s, I believe, seven weeks left to go in a process that’s been going on for a year. And, as we look back on how the primary unfolded … the process, we believe was to our party’s benefit and to our campaign’s benefit.”