After loss, Sanders claims ‘great victory’ in Kentucky

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders thanked the state of Kentucky for a “great victory” after losing the state’s primary on Tuesday by a small margin.

“Let me begin by thanking the people of Kentucky and Oregon for giving us great victories last night,” Sanders said in Vallejo, Calif., late Wednesday.

{mosads}”In a closed primary in Kentucky, where independents cannot vote, we got half of the delegates in the state.”

Sanders lost the state to front-runner Hillary Clinton by a razor-thin margin, 46.8 to 46.3 percent, according to The Associated Press. Both candidates took the same amount of delegates from the state.

Sanders sent a fundraising letter to his supporters earlier on Wednesday that said he had won the Oregon primary and “came to yet another virtual tie, this time in Kentucky.”

“That’s 21 victories for us so far, plus three more virtual ties where the margin was less than one percent of the vote,” the email said, which would appear to include a win in Kentucky.

During a campaign event in San Jose, Calif., though, Sanders said Oregon was his 20th win, according to the Post.

“As of last night, thanks to the people of Oregon, we won our 20th state primary or caucus,” he said.

“Thanks to the people of Kentucky, we won half of the delegates there.”

Sanders also won the Democrats Abroad primary of ex-pats, which could have been included in his victory count.

Sanders has vowed to continue campaigning, even though Clinton holds a large delegate lead over the Vermont senator. He has said he expects to do well in delegate-rich California and is pushing for a debate ahead of the state’s primary.