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04:04 GMT
WASHINGTON, June 6 (KUNA) -- Former US Vice President Joe Biden has secured the delegates needed to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on the first ballot at the August convention, crossing the threshold of 1,991 delegates.
The delegate count after seven states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries Tuesday formalizes what's been clear since Biden took a commanding delegate lead in mid-March and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race in early April.
Biden, who served as Delaware's US Senator for decades before becoming vice president in 2009, will be his party's standard bearer against President Trump.
However, Biden still cannot use general election funds until he is formally named the nominee at the August convention in Milwaukee.
"It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic Party has ever fielded - and I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party," Biden said in a statement on the matter.
"I am going to spend every day between now and November 3rd fighting to earn the votes of Americans all across this great country so that, together, we can win the battle for the soul of this nation."
Biden spent 36 years in the Senate before becoming Barack Obama's vice president. This is 77-year-old Biden's third bid for the presidency. (end)
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