The Democrats

Hillary Clinton became the presumptive nominee after winning 269 delegates in California's June 7th primary, pushing her over the 2,383 delegate baseline needed to gain the party's nomination. Bernie Sanders emerged with 206 delegates from California, but, as his campaign heavily emphasized, he would have needed to win the entirety of the state of California to gain the momentum that he needed towards receiving the nomination. This gap was only widened further when Clinton won 75 percent of the delegates in the District of Columbia's June 14th primary. While she only won 16 delegates to Sanders' 4, at this point in the primaries, it is far more about the symbolism of her victories than the genuine need to amass a greater number of delegates.

Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton

Prior to the California primary, it was clear that the optimistic vibe that characterized so much of Sanders' campaign was waning as it became clear that it would be impossible for him to actually win the primary with the number of remaining delegates. His campaign has shrunk substantially over the past month, and more than half of his campaign staff was laid off after California's primary. Sanders has not, however, formally dropped out of the race, and plans to take his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia at the end of the month, where he can hopefully make a final attempt to make Clinton's agenda more progressive.

Clinton received a formal endorsement from President Barack Obama after her victory in California. Sanders had met with Obama earlier in the day prior to the President's formal announcement of his endorsement. Though he has not released an official endorsement, Sanders himself said he would vote for Clinton because the priority of the party should, at this time, be defeating Republican candidate Donald Trump. This clashes with the most vocal of Sanders' supporters, many of whom claim they will vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, as they see voting for Clinton as a breach of their morals. More radical Sanders supporters claim that they will vote for Trump over Clinton, despite the fact that Trump's platform could not be farther away than that of Sanders.

The Republicans

Donald Trump's campaign is currently facing a conundrum. Despite having some of the most vocal and aggressive supporters, his fundraising has been dismal, and he may soon need to turn to financing his own campaign, which he has not actually done so far despite his claims. Without the necessary finances, it will be impossible for Trump to mobilize his base to the same degree Clinton can come election day in November.

Trump has also recently fired his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, on June 20th. Since then, the campaign has attempted to professionalize its image in order to appeal to a broader range of Republicans. While many within the Republican Party have felt obligated to support him out of loyalty to their party, their endorsements seem tepid. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who previously refused to support Trump, has done so for the sake of party unity. Several prominent Republicans who had previously endorsed Trump, such as Mark Kirk, have retracted their endorsement due to his ever-increasing inflammatory comments. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham pleaded with his party to take into consideration the well-being of the country over partisan politics: "There'll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary."