California governor endorses Clinton, says now is the time to stop the infighting

California Governor Jerry Brown announced on Tuesday that he is supporting Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders for president, delivering a clear signal to Democrats to stop bickering over the nomination and focus on the November election.

The endorsement by Brown, who is respected by progressives and popular in the state, is a valuable asset for Clinton one week before the delegate-rich Democratic primary there, in which both candidates are going for broke.

His main message was for the party’s factions, that it’s time to acknowledge that the nomination battle is effectively over.

“Clinton’s lead is insurmountable and Democrats have shown – by millions of votes – that they want her as their nominee,” Brown said in a statement on his website titled “An open letter to California Democrats and Independents”.

While saying he’s “deeply impressed’’ with Sanders, he argued that Clinton has the ”tenacity and skill“ to be the party’s standard-bearer and has the best chance to ”stop the dangerous candidacy of Donald Trump.’’

Clinton is 71 delegates shy of the number she needs to claim the nomination, according to a tally by the Associated Press, and she’s all but certain to cross the threshold when California and five other states hold contests on June 7. But losing the state, which she won in 2008, would complicate her efforts to unify the party.

California polls have indicated the race between Clinton and Sanders is very fluid, with the former secretary of state’s advantage ranging from 18 percentage points to 2 points.