Missouri victory gives Clinton a belated Mega Tuesday sweep

Hillary Clinton was declared the winner of the Missouri Democratic primary by The Associated Press on Thursday evening, nearly two days after the state held its primary.

She eked out a slim victory of just 1,531 votes over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. That's a difference of just three-tenths of a percent and was within the margin of a possible recount, but Sanders said earlier Thursday he wouldn't ask for that.

"I think it's unlikely the results will impact at all the number of delegates the candidate gets, and I would prefer to save the taxpayers of Missouri some money," Sanders said in an interview with the AP.

The belated win means the former secretary of state swept all five states that voted this week on the so-called "Mega Tuesday." She also was victorious in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Illinois.

Clinton picked up two more delegates from the win. According to the AP, that gives her a 314 pledged delegate advantage over Sanders. When superdelegates are considered, she has a 755 delegate lead. The Republican race in Missouri remains in limbo. Unofficial returns show Donald Trump with a thin lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz by 1,726 votes in the state. There could still be outstanding absentee and overseas ballots along with provisional ballots. As long as the race is within a 1 percentage-point margin as well, there remains the possibility of a recount. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.