LOS ANGELES (AP) — Striding into history, Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party, capturing commitments Monday from the number of delegates needed to become the Democrats' presumptive nominee. 
 
 The victory arrived nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama. Back then, she famously noted her inability to "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling." 
 
 Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to the nation's first black president, Clinton held off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. He mobilized millions with a fervently liberal message and his insurgent candidacy revealed a deep level of national frustration with politics-as-usual, even among Democrats who have controlled the White House since 2009. 
 
 Clinton, the former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady, reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee on Monday with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates. Those are party officials and officeholders, many of them eager to wrap up the primary amid preference polls showing her in a tightening race with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. 
 
 Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count. 
 
 The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted. 
 
 While superdelegates will not formally cast their votes for Clinton until the party's July convention in Philadelphia, all those counted in her tally have unequivocally told the AP they will do so. 
 
 "We really need to bring a close to this primary process and get on to defeating Donald Trump," said Nancy Worley, a superdelegate who chairs Alabama's Democratic Party and provided one of the last endorsements to put Clinton over the top. 
 
 Clinton outpaced Sanders in winning new superdelegate endorsements even after his string of primary and caucus wins in May. Following the results in Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates. 
 
 Sanders said this past weekend he plans to fight on until the convention, promising to make the case to superdelegates that he is better positioned to beat Trump in November. Superdelegates can change their minds. But since the start of the AP's survey in late 2015, no superdelegates have switched from supporting Clinton to backing Sanders. 
 
 Indeed, Clinton's victory is broadly decisive. She leads Sanders by more than 3 million cast votes, by 291 pledged delegates and by 523 superdelegates. She won 29 caucuses and primaries to his 21 victories. 
 
 That's a far bigger margin than Obama had in 2008, when he led Clinton by 131 pledged delegates and 105 superdelegates at the point he clinched the nomination. 
 
 Echoing the sentiments of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who overcame a decades-long rivalry with the Clinton family to endorse her last week, many superdelegates expressed a desire to close ranks around a nominee who could defeat Trump in November. 
 
 "It's time to stand behind our presumptive candidate," said Michael Brown, one of two superdelegates from the District of Columbia who came forward in the past week to back Clinton before the city's June 14 primary. "We shouldn't be acting like we are undecided when the people of America have spoken." 
 
 Though she marched into her second presidential primary campaign as an overwhelming favorite, Clinton could not shake Sanders until its final days. He campaigned aggressively in California ahead of the state's Tuesday election, unwilling to exit a race Clinton stood on the cusp of winning. 
 
 Beyond winning over millions of Sanders supporters who vow to remain loyal to the self-described democratic socialist, Clinton faces challenges as she turns toward November, including criticism of her decision to use a private email server run from her New York home while serving as secretary of state. Her deep unpopularity among Republicans has pushed many leery of Trump to nevertheless embrace his campaign. 
 
 "This to me is about saving the country and preventing a third progressive, liberal term, which is what a Clinton presidency would do," House Speaker Paul Ryan told the AP last week after he finally endorsed Trump, weeks after the New Yorker clinched the GOP nomination. 
 
 Yet Clinton showed no signs of limping into the general election as she approached the milestone, leaving Sanders behind and focusing on lacerating Trump. She said electing the billionaire businessman, who has spent months hitting her and her husband with bitingly personal attacks, would be a "historic mistake." 
 
 "He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility," Clinton said last week in a speech that was striking in its forcefulness, previewing a brutal five-month general election campaign to come. 
 
 Even without the nomination, Sanders can claim ideological victory. His liberal positions pushed the issue of income inequality into the spotlight and drove Clinton to the left on issues such as trade, Wall Street and campaign finance reform. 
 
 But she prevailed, in part, by claiming much of the coalition that boosted Obama. She won overwhelming support from women and minorities, catapulting her to decisive victories in diverse, delegate-rich states such as New York and Texas. 
 
 When Clinton launched her campaign last April, she did so largely unopposed, having scared off more formidable challengers by locking down much of the party's organizational and fundraising infrastructure. Vice President Joe Biden, seen as her most threatening rival, opted not to run in October. 
 
 Of the four opponents who did take her on, Sanders was the only one who emerged to provide a serious challenge. He caught fire among young voters and independents, his campaign gaining momentum from a narrow loss in Iowa in February and a commanding victory in New Hampshire. His ability to raise vast sums of money online gave him the resources to continue into the spring. 
 
 But Clinton vowed not to repeat the failings of her 2008 campaign and focused early on winning delegates, hiring help from Obama's old team before launching her campaign. They pushed superdelegates into making early commitments and held campaign appearances in areas where they could win the most pledged delegates. 
 
 Her victory in Nevada in late February diminished concerns from allies about her campaign operation. Decisive wins in Southern states on Super Tuesday and a sweep of March 15 contests gave her a significant delegate lead, which became insurmountable by the end of April after big victories in New York and in the Northeast. 
 
 She now moves on to face Trump, whose ascent to the top of the Republican Party few expected. The brash real estate mogul and reality TV star has long since turned his attention from primary foes to Clinton, debuting a nickname — "Crooked Hillary" — and arguing she belongs in jail for her email setup. 
 
 After a long primary campaign, Clinton said this past weekend in California she was ready to accept his challenge. 
 
 "We're judged by our words and our deeds, not our race, not our ethnicity, not our religion," she said Saturday in Oxnard, California. "So it is time to judge Donald Trump by his words and his deeds. And I believe that his words and his deeds disqualify him from being president of the United States." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Julie Bykowicz in Washington and Ken Thomas in San Francisco contributed to this report. ||||| LONG BEACH, Calif. — Hillary Clinton became the presumptive Democratic nominee in a surprise development on Monday, making her the first woman ever to win a major party’s presidential nomination one day before she was expected to cross the threshold. 
 
 The historic moment, years in the making, came after the former secretary of state passed the mark with a combination of pledged and superdelegates in her contest against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. 
 
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 But the announcement — first made by The Associated Press, and quickly confirmed by NBC and ABC — had not been expected until Tuesday night, when results from six states, including California and New Jersey, come in. Clinton's campaign had prepared a major victory rally in Brooklyn for Tuesday night, exactly eight years to the day after she conceded the 2008 race to then-Sen. Barack Obama. 
 
 Clinton’s embrace of the history-making occasion was uneasy. At one moment, her campaign was sending a fundraising text to supporters passing along the AP’s call. At another, she was tweeting about the coming primaries on Tuesday. 
 
 At her rally here on Monday night, Clinton alluded only briefly to the AP’s proclamation. 
 
 "According to the news, we are on the brink of a historic, unprecedented moment, but we still have work to do," she said. "We have six elections tomorrow and we are going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California." 
 
 Later, during her brief remarks at her star-studded concert fundraiser at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre to end the evening, Clinton didn't even mention that the race had already been called, encouraging attendees to vote in California. Still, that didn't stop a host of celebrity speakers from alluding to the news but stressing the importance of competing through Tuesday. 
 
 Clinton’s victory sets up a titanic clash against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who ripped through 16 primary rivals on his way to becoming the unlikely leader of a party he joined only recently. 
 
 But Sanders, long suspicious of superdelegates' role in the process, refused to concede on Monday night. His communications director, Michael Briggs, decried the media's "rush to judgment," signaling Sanders' intention to fight on. 
 
 “It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgment, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee’s clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer," Briggs said in a statement noting that Clinton “does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination.” 
 
 It was indeed superdelegates who put Clinton over the top — the AP spent the day surveying these party insiders and counted those who said they were "unequivocally" for Clinton, according to the news agency's U.S. political editor, David Scott. 
 
 Delegates Remaining: 56 Delegates 2,814 1,893 56 2,382 Delegates Needed for Nomination 
 
 The timing was a surprise, coming only hours before voters head to the polls on the last major day of the Democratic primary, even if the outcome was not. And the Clinton campaign, mindful of the need to court Sanders supporters deeply suspicious of the process, signaled it understood the need to let the voters have their say. 
 
 “Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote," campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. "We look forward to Tuesday night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates." 
 
 Before the AP updated its count and put her over the top, Clinton was just 23 delegates shy of the 2,383 needed to clinch the nomination, and with hundreds of delegates up for grabs on Tuesday, she was expected to easily cross that threshold. 
 
 But given Clinton’s reliance on superdelegates to reach a majority, Sanders has vowed to wage a bitter battle all the way to the Democratic National Convention in July, insisting that nothing is official until the ballots are tallied in Philadelphia and arguing that he would make a better opponent to face Trump. 
 
 So far, Clinton has trod lightly, wary of alienating progressives she needs for the coming general election battle. 
 
 “I certainly am going to be reaching out to Sen. Sanders and hope he will join me in that, because we've got to be unified going into the convention and coming out of the convention to take on Donald Trump,” Clinton told reporters on Monday. 
 
 Clinton has been eager to take on Trump — stepping up her attacks on his "racist" rhetoric and unfitness for the Oval Office — but earlier on Monday she found time to reflect on the historic nature of her victory. 
 
 "My supporters are passionate. They are committed. They have voted for me in great numbers across our country for many reasons. But among those reasons is their belief that having a woman president will make a great statement, a historic statement about what kind of country we are, what we stand for. It's really emotional. And I am someone who has been very touched and really encouraged by this extraordinary conviction that people have," she said. "It's predominantly women and girls, but not exclusively — men bring their daughters to meet me and tell me that they are supporting me because of their daughters. And I do think that it will make a very big difference for a father or a mother to be able to look at their daughter just like they can look at their son and say, 'You can be anything you want to be in this country, including president of the United States.'" 
 
 Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have been at pains to show that they are taking nothing for granted — campaigning hard in California in recent weeks, looking to win the primary in the biggest state in the country as a capstone to her long march to the nomination. 
 
 But embedded in her comments in recent days is a clear message to Sanders: Your time is up. 
 
 Sanders has shocked the political world, and seemingly himself, by creating not only a progressive movement but also a fundraising powerhouse that will have helped him win more than 20 states, when all’s said and done. 
 
 It’s a stunning success for a democratic socialist from Vermont who only recently embraced the Democratic Party and has spent decades on Capitol Hill with few marquee legislative successes to his name. 
 
 But Sanders' frustration has been visible as Clinton barreled toward victory. 
 
 He bristled when asked by reporters on Monday whether he was "standing in the way of what could be the first female president," and, "At what point do you become a spoiler, though?" 
 
 Sanders brushed off the questions, pointing to polls that show him faring better than Clinton in head-to-head matchups against Trump. 
 
 "Our goal is to get as many delegates as we possibly can and to make the case to superdelegates that I believe the evidence is very strong that I am the strongest candidate," Sanders said at a news conference in Emeryville, California. 
 
 But he also hinted that he’s coming closer to accepting that the math just doesn’t work in his favor. 
 
 Sanders told reporters that he'll be headed on a plane back to Burlington on Tuesday night and that he and his aides will "assess where we are" after the election results come in. 
 
 As of Monday evening, Sanders faced a near-impossible task to overtake Clinton among pledged delegates. He would have needed to win roughly two-thirds of the pledged delegates between Tuesday’s contests and next week’s primary in the District of Columbia — a massive jump from the roughly 46 percent of pledged delegates he’s won thus far — to pass Clinton. 
 
 There are also clear signs that patience with Sanders has run out. 
 
 Reports leaked out on Monday that President Barack Obama spoke with Sanders on Sunday, and that Obama was ready to endorse Clinton as early as this week. 
 
 And Clinton herself on Monday said in not so subtle terms that she’s ready for the next phase in the campaign — one in which she takes the fight to Trump, with her 2008 primary rival by her side. 
 
 "I look forward to campaigning with the president and everyone else," she said. 
 
 Hadas Gold and Shane Goldmacher contributed to this report.
– By AP's count, Hillary Clinton has just made US history: On Monday, the news service declared that she has captured commitments from the number of delegates needed to become the Democrats' presumptive nominee, the first woman to do so for either party. The Sanders camp, however, isn't convinced. The AP says Clinton reached the mark 2,383 delegates with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates. Those are party officials and officeholders, many of them eager to wrap up the primary amid preference polls showing her in a tightening race with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count. The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted. While superdelegates will not formally cast their votes for Clinton until the party's July convention in Philadelphia, all those counted in her tally have unequivocally told the AP they will do so. A spokesman for Bernie Sanders isn't swayed by the math, reports Politico. “Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination," said Michael Briggs. "She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then." The development comes on the eve of voting in California.