Hillary Clinton is officially the Democratic Party’s nominee

PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton is officially the Democratic Party’s nominee for president of the United States.

The nomination was made official at around 6:30 pm after Clinton won the requisite 2,383 delegates.

Though many anticipated it to be a tense moment — the first day of the convention was interrupted by booing and “lock her up!” chants — the roll call vote wound up being an emotional moment for both candidates’ delegates. As the roll call proceeded, Sanders smiled with tears in his eyes.

Before voting started, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the first woman elected to the US Senate, gave a passionate speech nominating Clinton.
“It is with a full heart that I am here today as we nominate Hillary Clinton to be the first woman president,” Mikulski said. “Our Founding Fathers gave us a great start. But it was the Founding Mothers who said, ‘Do not forget the ladies, for we will foment our own revolution.’”

Now, Clinton’s nomination hasn’t been in doubt for months, but some Sanders delegates had held out hope for an ill-defined last-minute coup of some kind. This final tally extinguishes any last hope that Clinton could still be denied the party’s nomination.

Some boos broke out from Sanders allies as the final vote was cast. But it was also a historic and triumphant moment for women around the country — Clinton supporters or not — who could finally officially declare that a major party had nominated a woman for the presidency.

“It feels surreal. It feels like I’m making one of the greatest decisions of my life. As a mother of an 8-year-old girl, I’m creating a future where female leadership is the norm,” said Maxine Outerbridge, 27, the youngest member of the New York delegation that put Clinton over the top. “It feels incredible.”