KENTUCKY SHOWDOWN Democratic primary contest remains too close to call

DEVELOPING – The Kentucky Democratic Primary on Tuesday between front-ruer Hillary Clinton and rival Sen. Beie Sanders is too close to call, with polls having closed at 7 p.m. Easte.

With more than 70 percent of polls reporting, Clinton and the Vermont senator were deadlocked at roughly 46 percent.

STORY

Hillary Clinton and Beie Sanders compete in the Kentucky and Oregon Democratic primaries, with GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump trying to add to his delegate count in Oregon.

Clinton, the Democratic front-ruer, is looking for a win to stop Sanders' persistent challenge so she can focus her attention and resources on Trump.

Clinton already has a seemingly insurmountable lead in the delegate race, needing just 143 more over nine remaining races to clinch the Democratic nomination.

There are 55 delegates at stake in Kentucky and 61 in Oregon.

Clinton is expected to do well in Kentucky, having soundly defeated Barack Obama there in their 2008 primary contest, and limited polling showed her with a double-digit lead before Tuesday.

She has campaigned throughout the state, including this past weekend when she touted a pro-jobs agenda to help in a state with high unemployment and tried to focus on Trump.

"I’ve never heard such reckless, risky talk from somebody about to be a nominee for president than I’ve heard from Donald Trump when it comes to nuclear weapons,” she said at a rally in Louisville. “He says he would use nuclear weapons. This is scary, dangerous talk."

Sanders has won 10 of the past 15 state contests, which has inspired him to keep his campaign alive through the remaining nine contests and the party’s nominating convention in July.

However, Democrats are calling on Sanders to exit the race because his continued attacks appear to be hurting Clinton’s general election chances.

As one of the most liberal states in the country, Oregon would seem like friendly territory for Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist.

However, the voting in Oregon -- and Kentucky -- is open only to Democrats, a process that excludes independents.

“I think in Oregon and in Kentucky, if we can bring out large numbers of people, I think we're going to win,” Sanders told reporters Tuesday while in Puerto Rico.

There are 28 Republican delegates at stake in Oregon toward Trump securing the party nomination with 1,237. He needs 103 more with 436 still available in the party’s seven remaining state contests.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich remain on the write-in ballots, which were printed before they suspended their campaigns May 3.

While Clinton has struggled to put away Sanders, Trump has repeatedly hammered the former secretary of state and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

The real estate mogul recently accused Clinton of being a "total enabler" of her husband's extra-marital affairs, while calling Bill Clinton "the biggest abuser of women, as a politician in the history of our country."

Further complicating matters for the Democratic Party leadership, Trump has encouraged Sanders to pursue an independent run in the general election.

He has repeatedly talked about how Sanders is being treated poorly by the party establishment.

Sanders supporters this past weekend upended Nevada’s state party convention over the appointing of convention delegates.

The state party in response sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee that claimed the supporters displayed a "penchant [for] actual violence.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.