Clinton secures Democratic nomination

The Democratic and the Republican parties choose their respective nominees through party-sponsored contests in each state and territory.

This happens through the process of either 'caucuses' or 'primaries'.

In the 2016 US presidential race, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are the top Republican contenders; while Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are the top Democratic candidates.

On 1 Feb, US presidential race kicked off with Iowa caucuses, in which Republican Texas Senator–Ted Cruz and Democrat Hillary Clinton won.

Republican Donald Trump garnered victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada; his Republican contender-Jeb Bush bowed out the race after losing in South Carolina.

Democrat Clinton won in South Carolina and Nevada; her contender Democrat Bernie Sanders won in New Hampshire.

Republican Donald Trump was the clear winner in March; he won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia, Michigan, Mississippi, Hawaii, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Arizona.

Republican Cruz won in Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Maine, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.

Republican Marco Rubio won in Minnesota and Puerto Rico, but he dropped out on 15 March; Republican John Kasich won in Ohio.

In March, Democrat Hillary Clinton won in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia on the first 'Super Tuesday'.

Giving tough competition, Democrat Bernie Sanders won in Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Vermont.

In the following weeks, Clinton won in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Arizona; Sanders won in Kansas, Nebraska, Maine, Michigan, Idaho, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington state.

In April, Republican Trump won in New York, East Coast, Northeast states-Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Democrat Clinton won in New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania; Sanders won in Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Rhode Island.

In May, Trump won in Indiana; Republican Party declared Trump as the 'presumptive' nominee.

Cruz crashed out of the race; John Kasich had formally withdrawn his candidacy.

On 8 May, Democrat front-runner Clinton was reportedly planning to form a 'Republicans for Hillary' group in an attempt to win votes over Republican Trump.

Clinton won the Guam caucuses and Kentucky primary while her contender, Sanders, won the West Virginia and Oregon primary.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, won the West Virginia primary, Nebraska primary, Oregon primary, and the Washington state primary.

Bernie Sanders was under pressure to end his candidacy as the Democrats raised alarms that his presence in the race was weakening their efforts to beat Trump.

A poll conducted by RealClearPolitics revealed that Trump surpassed Clinton for the first time by a mere 0.2%.

Later, Clinton told her supporters that it was "time to steel themselves" for the election and race against Trump.

Donald Trump reached the minimum number of delegates required to secure the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

Reportedly, Trump was put over at the top by a small group of unbound Republican Party delegates; the delegates said that they would support Trump at the party's national convention in July.

A minimum of 1,237 delegates are required to win the nomination and Trump reached 1,238 delegates.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has now secured the required number of delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.

In doing so, she will become the first female presidential candidate from a major US political party.

However, Bernie Sanders has stated that since Clinton is dependent on super-delegates who could not vote until July's party convention, her presumptive nomination is still doubtful.