Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today edges a little closer to fulfilling her dream of becoming the President of the USA after making history by becoming the first major party female presidential nominee for the White House.
“History” and “This moment is for every little girl who dreams big” were some of Clinton’s tweets to celebrate her nomination.
Democratic delegates from the 50 US states formally elected Clinton as their presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) held in Philadelphia until Thursday, exceeding the required threshold of 2,383 delegates.
Clinton won the support of 2,842 delegates while her rival in the Democratic primaries and Senator Bernie Sanders received 1,865 delegates and there were 56 abstentions.
Sanders’s home state of Vermont asked to be the last to vote and when their turn came, the senator handed over all delegates who supported his candidacy at the Democratic Convention and called for vote by acclamation in favor of the former Secretary of State.
Clinton was thus elected by acclamation amid applause and cheers from those attending the convention, thanks to Sanders who today followed the gesture that the former first lady had with then-Senator Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado in 2008.
During the voting process, Sanders was spotted being emotional on some occasions, especially when his brother Larry, who lives in the UK, cast a vote on behalf of Democrats residing abroad.
In the stands, Sanders supporters protested during voting and a youth from Michigan told Efe that the entire Democratic nominee selection process has been a “fraud”.
Although Sanders during his speech at the convention on Monday urged his voters to support Clinton in the November election to prevent a victory of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, many are reluctant to do so.
In fact, hundreds of delegates and Sanders supporters today protested in silence inside media tents at the Democratic convention, just a few minutes after Clinton’s election.
“My party betrayed me today, I’ve been a Democrat for 35 years and it is a shame, but my party has betrayed me,” Nadine Gallagher, a delegate for Oklahoma and school teacher who dedicated her time after work for Sanders’s campaign for one year, told Efe.
“I think Clinton has won by cheating, I’m a teacher and if my students cheat, they fail the test. It was her turn and the Democratic Party fixed everything so that she was chosen,” said Gallagher who said she will not vote for Clinton in November “under any circumstances”.
In the same vein, Jane Kanagy, a delegate for Ohio, told Efe that she is “upset with the party.”
According to Kanagy, during the convention, the scandal over leaked Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails has not been addressed.
Former US president Bill Clinton, who on Twitter declared himself “proud” of his wife’s candidacy to the White House, will speak at the end of the second day of the convention tonight.
Clinton will formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday with a speech at the end of the four-day convention and will be introduced by her daughter Chelsea.