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Sanders says his edge with independents makes him a better Trump foe

As the Democratic primary race increasingly looks all sewn up for Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders argued that he's more competitive against real estate mogul Donald Trump in a general-election matchup.

"We are winning Independent votes and some Republican votes as well, and that is a point that I hope the delegates to the Democratic convention fully understand," he said as results began to come in for Tuesday's mid-Atlantic primaries.

Maryland and Delaware were quickly called for the former secretary of state. Four of the five states are closed primaries. Past closed Democratic primaries in the 2016 election cycle have favored Clinton.

Sanders has trailed Clinton among both delegates and superdelegates. According the Associated Press's delegate tracker, the Vermont senator has 1,209 delegates while Clinton has 1,993 and he has 39 superdelegates while Clinton has 519.

"In a general election, everyone, Democrat, independent, Republican has the right to vote for president. The elections are not closed primaries," Sanders said. "We were in New York state last week, 3 million people in New York state could not vote because they were independents. Well you know what? Those folks and independents all over the country will be voting in November for the next president of the United States."