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Bernie Sanders Notches Win Over Hillary Clinton in Oregon

The Vermont senator earned a key victory against Clinton in Oregon on Tuesday night after an incredibly close race in Kentucky was called for her.
Photo by Thais Llorca/EPA

Senator Bernie Sanders scored an early win in Oregon's Democratic primary, defeating Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night.

The Associated Press called the race for Sanders, who now leads Clinton 55 to 45 percent with 77 percent of precincts reporting.

His victory comes just hours after Clinton eked out a narrow victory over Sanders in a tight race in Kentucky, though some outlets say that the official tally there remains too close to call.

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Sanders pushed hard for a win in Oregon, which was favorable territory for him. It's a mostly white, liberal state that mirrors neighboring Washington, which Sanders won in a blow out in March.

But Sanders also had to contend with the state's closed primary system, which only allows Democratic voters to participate. Closed primaries have not typically been favorable to the senator, who tends to attract large swaths of independent voters.

Related: Hillary Clinton Narrowly Defeats Bernie Sanders in Nail-Biter Kentucky Primary

A new law in Oregon should have spelled trouble for Sanders as well. The state now automatically registers Oregonians to vote when they get a new driver's license or state ID, which has created a huge surge in new voters in the state. But those registrations automatically designates new voters as unaffiliated with a political party, forcing them to return an additional form to designate themselves as Democrats or Republicans. But 76 percent of those voters failed to do so this year, according to state records.

The victory in Oregon will add to the senator's momentum; he has now won three of five contests this month. But his narrow loss to Clinton in Kentucky will undercut that message and he still trails Clinton in delegates. Clinton had a 283 delegate lead over the senator heading into Tuesday night's contests and Sanders' win will do little to dent that lead.

With Sanders unable to clinch the Democratic nomination through the remaining pledged delegates alone, the general election still looks to be a race between Clinton and Donald Trump, both of whom have begun preparing for a intense fight. And all signs point toward it being a nasty match-up.

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Trump, who has been the Republican standard-bearer for two weeks now, also won Oregon on Tuesday night. He earned the title after sweeping the Indiana primary on May 3 and knocking out his last remaining rivals, Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich. Before Oregon delegates are accounted for, Trump is just 93 shy of the 1,237 required to clinch the nomination before the July convention.

Related: Nevada's Democratic Party Is Accusing Bernie Sanders' Staff and Supporters of Inciting Violence

Tuesday morning, Trump gave the world a preview on Twitter of what the next six months are going to look like running against Clinton.

Crooked Hillary said her husband is going to be in charge of the economy.If so, he should run,not her.Will he bring the 'energizer' to D.C.?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)May 17, 2016

How can Crooked Hillary put her husband in charge of the economy when he was responsible for NAFTA, the worst economic deal in U.S. history?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)May 17, 2016

The Democratic primary campaign now heads into a two-week hiatus ahead of votes in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in the first week of June. Those primaries will be followed by six-state primary night bonanza on June 7, when California, the biggest prize of the Democratic race, will vote.

Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @oliviaLbecker

Related: Donald Trump Says He'd Meet With Kim Jong-un to Talk About North Korea's Nukes