Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders scored a West Virginia victory Tuesday, spurring him forward on what he calls an "uphill climb" to the Democratic presidential nomination.

Even as pundits look ahead to a Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump showdown in the general election, Sanders has committed to staying in the race, a stance that was only bolstered by his win in West Virginia Tuesday.

Then again, "We are used to fighting uphill," Sanders said, speaking to a roaring crowd of supporters in Oregon, following his victory Tuesday.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump won essentially by default in the West Virginia primary, after both of his remaining competitors dropped out in the wake of his Indiana victory last week.

"Let me be as clear as I can be," Sanders told supporters. "We are in this campaign to win the Democratic nomination. We are going to fight for every last vote."

The Associated Press called the race for Sanders at 9:24 p.m., ET. West Virginia polls closed at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"I want to take a moment to thank the people of West Virginia for a tremendous victory -- a double-digit victory," Bernie Sanders told supporters in Oregon Tuesday. "This is a state where Hillary Clinton won by over 40 points in 2008."

As of 10:15, Sanders was sitting on a whopping 50.8 percent of the vote to Clinton's 38.3 percent support in the Democratic primary.

Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus sought to capitalize on Hillary Clinton's loss West Virginia in a Tweet late Tuesday, while also taking a sideways swipe at Bernie Sanders.

It is nothing short of embarrassing that Hillary Clinton has now been defeated twenty times by a 74-year old socialist from Vermont — Reince Priebus (@Reince) May 11, 2016

Priebus has called for party unity around "presumptive nominee" Donald Trump, although the party's most senior leaders have disregarded that advice.

Meanwhile, Clinton defeated Sanders in Tuesday night's Nebraska primary.

Updated: 8:45 p.m.

The Hill reports Bernie Sanders has declared West Virginia a win, even though the Associated Press and other outlets have yet to officially call the race there Tuesday.



Updated: 8:15 p.m.

Forty-five minutes after polls closed, the state's Democratic contest has yet to be officially called.

Updated: 7 p.m.

A CBS exit poll suggests few West Virginia Republican voters consider their party "united" at the moment, and slightly over half believe it can unite by the November general election. A majority say they'd vote for Trump over Clinton, assuming the two face off in November.

Updated: 6:30 p.m.

Exit polls show favorable demographics for Bernie Sanders, who tends to fare better with white voters and political independents. An ABC exit poll estimates nine in 10 Democratic primary voters in West Virginia are white, and a third of voters in preliminary exit polls identified as independents.

Updated: 6 p.m.

As Bernie Sanders urged voters to hit the primary polls in West Virginia Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden expressed confidence to reporters that Hillary Clinton would be his party's nominee. Sanders' campaign intends to win what states it can between now and his party's nominating contest this summer, despite facing the near impossibility of winning sufficient delegate support outright.

Clinton currently leads Sanders by 283 bound delegates, to say nothing of the 712 so-called "super delegates," many of which have already pledged to support her.

In an email to supporters Tuesday, campaign manager Jeff Weaver indicated Sanders expects wins in West Virginia, Oregon, and Kentucky. The real hurdles will be delegate-heavy California and New Jersey, "where there is so much at stake," as Weaver wrote.

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Pre-Election Polling

The latest pre-election polls suggest Sanders has a strong shot at winning in West Virginia, with FiveThirtyEight's weighted polling aggregate giving him a 63 percent chance of victory. The self-identified democratic socialist trails Clinton in the Democratic primary delegate count, but still hopes to wedge in a win where he can up until the party's nominating convention in July.

A West Virginia win would be a small coup, given Clinton's sweeping victory in the state's 2008 primary contest.

Writes Sanders' campaign manager in a call for donations, "Yes, it is still an uphill climb, but if you can say one thing about this election, it's been unpredictable. So we'll continue to fight for every vote, every state, and every delegate. Not just because they're needed to win, but because each victory sends a powerful message to the Democratic Party establishment about our political revolution's demand for transformational change in this country."

In the Republican race, meanwhile, Trump competitors Ted Cruz and John Kasich have cleared the field, guaranteeing West Virginia for the celebrity real estate mogul and presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

As far as Trump is concerned, that means voters here shouldn't bother going to the polls at all.

"What I want you to do is save your vote — you know, you don't have to vote anymore. Save your vote for the general election, okay? Forget this one. The primary is gone," Trump told a 13,000-strong West Virginia crowd, according to New York Magazine.

As the publication observes, Trump "isn't quite nailing this whole [party] 'standard-bearer' thing," given the crucial down-ballot judicial races also underway Tuesday in West Virginia. A campaign spokesperson later said Trump did not intend to discourage voter turnout, and his Twitter account has since promoted a "get out the vote" message for West Virginia.

Regardless of Trump's suggestion or the fact the Republican race was essentially decided by his victory in Indiana, that reality won't be fully reflected at the polls.

Early Voting

Early voting has been underway in West Virginia since April 27, and nearly 200,000 submitted their ballots, record-setting early voter participation.

In the first week of early voting alone, the Secretary of State reports, West Virginia saw higher turnout than the 2008 and 2012 early vote totals combined.

>> Photo credit Gage Skidmore, Flickr/Creative Commons