WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama has won the Democratic primary in the District of Columbia, handily defeating Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

With 89 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 75 percent of the vote -- or 77,432 votes -- to 24 percent for Clinton -- or 24,563 votes.

Obama reached out to often ignored D.C. voters, making a surprise appearance in Eastern Market on Tuesday morning. The majority-black city overwhelmingly selected the man who could become the first black president.

Myisha Morgan, 22, who voted at the Latin American Youth Center in northwest Washington, said she initially supported Clinton but changed her mind.

"I voted for Barack Obama because I think we need change, something new," she said.

The Illinois senator easily swept all three mid-Atlantic primaries in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain also swept all three states. With 89 percent of D.C. precincts reporting, McCain had 67 percent of the vote -- or 3,425 votes -- to 17 percent for Huckabee -- or 874 votes.

D.C. voters were energized Tuesday by the prospect of influencing the tight race for the Democratic nomination. Turnout at the polls appeared to be higher than the 2004 primary, election officials said.

District leaders were hoping the election excitement and a swath of new registered voters would translate into dramatically higher turnout at the polls Tuesday.

Voter registration increased by about 10 percent to 377,007 people for Tuesday's primary from 342,091 in the 2004 presidential primary. Since the 2000 primary, voter registration has risen by about a third -- or about 93,000. During that time, Washington's population has grown at a much slower clip -- from 572,059 in 2000 to about 588,000 in 2007, according to U.S. Census estimates.

In 2004, nearly 17 percent of registered Democrats and nearly 13 percent of overall registered voters cast ballots in the nonbinding primary.