As Clinton pitches wage boost, Cruz wins Wyo. GOP delegates

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Hillary Clinton detoured Saturday from a weekend of big-dollar fundraising in California to pitch her plans to raise the federal minimum wage and refresh her criticism of rival Bernie Sanders in advance of Tuesday’s New York primary.

The former first lady told a cheering crowd at a Los Angeles rally Saturday afternoon that if elected, she would push Congress to lift the $7.25-an-hour federal base wage.

Clinton’s remarks echoed her statements at Thursday’s Democratic debate in Brooklyn, N.Y. The former senator, who previously endorsed a $12-per-hour federal minimum wage, said she would also sign legislation raising that level to $15.

“People end up in poverty. We need a living wage,” she told the audience at Southwest Los Angeles College. She credited California for recently enacting the nation’s highest statewide minimum wage – $15 an hour by 2022.

In Casper, Wyo., pain-staking organization and in-person campaigning paid off again for Ted Cruz on Saturday as he nailed down all 14 delegates up for grabs at the Republican Party convention in Wyoming. The result leaves Donald Trump facing yet another loss in a string of defeats in Western states.

Trump still leads the overall delegate race. The AP delegate count: Trump, 744; Cruz, 559; and Kasich, 144. Needed to win: 1,237.

Cruz was the only candidate to address the convention in Casper on Saturday, promising to end what he called President Barack Obama’s “war on coal” if he’s elected. Wyoming is the nation’s leading coal-producing state.

Trump largely bypassed the state. In a telephone interview Saturday on “Fox and Friends,” he said: “I don’t want to waste millions of dollars going out to Wyoming many months before to wine and dine and to essentially pay off these people, because a lot of it’s a payoff, you understand that?”

Trump’s defeat in Wyoming follows his shutout this month in Colorado, where he failed to pick up a single delegate of the 34 in play. He has urged his supporters to protest the results to state officials in that state.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich to be the next Republican nominee for president.

Kasich’s campaign announced Sandoval’s support Saturday.

Sandoval also will serve as a national co-chairman of Kasich’s campaign.