The former secretary of state claimed the mantle as the presumptive nominee, making her the first woman to lead a major party’s bid for the White House

Hillary Clinton declared victory in the Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, marking the first time a woman will capture the nomination of a major political party in the United States’ 240-year history.

Clinton, taking the stage at the Brooklyn Navy Yard while on the cusp of winning a majority of pledged delegates, delivered a soaring speech that appealed for party unity against Donald Trump ahead of what she framed as a battle for America’s very identity as a nation.

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Exulting under a glass ceiling before thousands of supporters, Clinton began by paying tribute to the history-making moment that precluded her eight years to the day when she conceded to Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary.



“Tonight caps an amazing journey – a long, long journey,” Clinton said.

“It may be hard to see tonight but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now. But don’t worry. We’re not smashing this one. Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone. The first time in our nation’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee.”

But on a night when it became clear that Clinton would secure a majority of pledged delegates, her rival, Bernie Sanders refused to bow out, telling supporters that their fight would continue to the Democratic National Convention in July.



The senator from Vermont, his voice hoarse, struggled to be heard above screaming supporters in Santa Monica. “We are going to fight hard to win the primary in Washington DC,” he said, referring to the tiny caucus that is last in line to vote next week.

Promising to continue all the way to the convention, he added: “And then we take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia.”

Earlier, upon accepting the mantle of party standard-bearer, Clinton moved quickly to congratulate Sanders while acknowledging the unlikely revolution that has routinely drawn crowds in the tens of thousands to the senator’s rallies.



“He has spent his long career in public service fighting for progressive causes and principles and excited millions of people, especially young people,” Clinton said.

The debates inspired by Sanders and his legion of supporters, she added, “have been very good for the Democratic party and for America”.

Clinton spoke shortly after she secured an overwhelming victory in New Jersey. She would later secure victory in South Dakota and New Mexico, while Sanders clinched wins in Montana and South Dakota. The result of the California primary, the most delegate-rich on the calendar, had still not been called, but with close to half of precincts reporting Clinton held a strong lead.

Earlier, Clinton extended an olive branch to Sanders supporters with a dose of empathy – drawing upon her loss in 2008 to make clear her familiarity with pouring one’s heart into a cause and falling short. But she reminded them of the looming contest with Trump and the need to rally together.

“Whether you supported me or Senator Sanders or one of the Republicans, we all need to keep working toward a better, fairer, stronger America … As we look ahead to the battle that awaits, let’s remember all that united us.”



Obama, who is expected to endorse Clinton any day now, called both Democratic contenders on Tuesday night.



The president congratulated Clinton on securing the nomination and separately thanked Sanders “for energizing millions of Americans”, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. Obama also accepted a meeting with Sanders, at the senator’s request, to be held at the White House on Thursday.



Although Clinton has in recent weeks run two races in parallel – pivoting to the general election while still fending off the challenge from Sanders – on Tuesday she placed a target squarely on Trump and what she decried as a campaign rooted in demagoguery.

Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) Tonight, we can say with pride that, in America, there is no barrier too great and no ceiling too high to break. pic.twitter.com/7vbGPJe543

“Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander-in-chief,” Clinton said, while pointing to Trump’s controversial rhetoric against immigrants, Muslims, women and, most recently, a judge of Hispanic ethnicity.



“He wants to win by stoking fear and rubbing salt in wounds and reminding us daily just how great he is.”

But rather than simply serving up a scathing takedown of Trump, as she did in a national security address last week, Clinton took the opportunity instead to lay down a marker of two dramatically different visions for the direction of the country. Trump’s agenda was one embodied by fear and a return to the painful vestiges of America’s past, Clinton argued, while hers would be defined by optimism and the values upon which the nation was founded.



“He’s not just trying to build a wall between America and Mexico, he’s trying to wall off Americans from each other,” Clinton said. “We are better than this. We won’t let this happen in America.”

Taking aim at Trump’s campaign slogan, she added: “When he says let’s make America great again, that is code for let’s take America backwards.”

“To be great, we can’t be small. We have to be as big as the values that define America.”

The news that a woman had finally reached such a vaunted place in the US halls of power brought emotional responses from voters who had hitched their hopes to the former first lady, US senator, and secretary of state to reach this day.



“To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, this is one big step for women, and a bigger step for America,” said Barbara Lee, founder and president of the nonpartisan Barbara Lee Family Foundation which researches women’s races for executive office.

“A woman at the head of the table changes the conversation,” Lee continued. “A woman at the top of the ticket changes our perception of leadership – and the narrative about what girls can aspire to be.”

Ellen Malcolm, the founder of Emily’s List, which has worked since 1985 to get Democratic women who support abortion rights elected, said “it looks like we’re going into the locker room for halftime and we’re ahead and I’m very excited.”

Democrats are eager to seize upon a series of gendered comments Trump has made with respect to Clinton, such as his recent assertion that her achievements were the result of “playing the woman card”.



Trump, speaking before Clinton from his eponymous golf club in Briarcliff Manor, New York, held little back in hitting her record on trade while making a direct appeal to the economically disenfranchised voters who have flocked to Sanders in droves.

“To all of the Bernie Sanders supporters who have been left out in the cold in a rigged system with superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms,” Trump said, echoing the language used by Sanders to characterize the Democratic primary.



Both Clinton and Trump will enter the general election contest with record high unfavorable ratings. For Clinton, the drop in numbers have been associated with her use of a private email server as secretary of state – a controversy that will be a centerpiece of the Republican strategy to derail her campaign going into November.



Democrats nonetheless remain confident in their ability to portray Trump as fundamentally unserious and unfit for the office.

Even as Clinton emerged as the de facto Democratic nominee, Republicans were grappling with the fallout from Trump’s latest attack on an American judge born to Mexican immigrants.

Clinton can claim to be the nominee after an unexpectedly challenging year-long primary race against Sanders, who has electrified the liberal wing of the Democratic party and revealed Clinton’s enduring weakness among younger voters.

In total, Clinton visited 42 states and territories since launching her second presidential bid in April 2015. Confessing that she was not a “natural politician”, Clinton found her rhythm by forging connections with voters in low-key settings across the country: over coffee at a local diner in Monticello, Iowa, at an organic farm in Meredith, New Hampshire, during a late night visit with the maids at a Las Vegas hotel, and by sipping St Patrick’s Day beers with the patrons of a bar in Youngstown, Ohio.

The US has had a Catholic president, a divorced president, a black president, all before tapping a woman to be a major party’s presidential candidate.

More than a dozen women have previously launched a bid for the White House , starting with Victoria Woodhull in 1872, nearly half a century before women even had the right to vote. Clinton now appears to get closer than anyone to date – becoming the first woman to lead a major political party’s bid for the presidency.

Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want—even president. Tonight is for you. -H pic.twitter.com/jq7fKlfwGV