Hillary Clinton's Puerto Rico victory follows her win in the U.S. Virgin Islands caucuses Saturday. | AP Photo Clinton wins Puerto Rico primary

Hillary Clinton won Puerto Rico’s primary on Sunday, putting her on a trajectory to claim the Democratic nomination for president on Tuesday.

At the time the race was called, she had 64 percent of the vote to 34 percent of the vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders. Reports out of the island indicated that the hand-counting of ballots was proceeding slowly.


Clinton, who won the territory by a landslide margin in 2008 over Barack Obama, was the heavy favorite to win the territory's primary. In her two terms as senator from New York — the state with the largest population of Puerto Rican-Americans — she gained a strong degree of familiarity with the island. Those relationships helped her build strong institutional support from top Puerto Rico Democrats, including Gov. Alejandro Padilla.

With 60 pledged delegates at stake in Puerto Rico, Clinton's win there places her within striking distance of the 2,383-delegate threshold necessary to claim the nomination. Entering the day, Clinton had 1,776 pledged delegates and 547 superdelegates for a total of 2,323 — making it likely that New Jersey, where the polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday, will put her over the top.

Neither candidate campaigned extensively in Puerto Rico, instead focusing resources and campaign events on California with its 546 delegates.

Clinton's Puerto Rico victory follows her win in the U.S. Virgin Islands caucuses on Saturday.