Hillary Makes History as First Female US Presidential Nominee
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton became the first woman to become a Presidential nominee in the history of US elections.
Hillary Clinton declared herself the Democratic Party nominee for US president on Tuesday, embracing her role in history as the first woman to lead a major party in a race for the White House.
The former first lady, US senator and secretary of state celebrated her victory in the nominating race over rival Bernie Sanders at a raucous event with supporters in Brooklyn, New York. Clinton placed her achievement in the context of the long history of the women’s rights movement.
Clinton, 68, spoke shortly after beating Sanders in New Jersey’s nominating contest, expanding her lead in the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination, and setting up a five-month general election campaign against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the 8 November election.
Democratic Unity? Not So Much
In her speech, Clinton appealed to Sanders supporters to join her and said the Democratic Party had been bolstered by his campaign for eradicating income inequality, which has commanded huge crowds and galvanised younger voters.
But Sanders showed no interest in ending his upstart candidacy, telling cheering supporters in California that he would go on campaigning through next Tuesday’s primary in the District of Columbia and carry his political crusade – although not necessarily his campaign – to the convention in July.
Trump ‘Temperamentally Unfit’
In her speech, Clinton harshly attacked Trump for using divisive rhetoric that belittled women, Muslims and immigrants, and took specific aim at his recent condemnation of an Indiana-born judge of Mexican heritage.
Clinton‘s race against Trump, 69, will unfold amid an ongoing investigation of her use of a personal email server while secretary of state. Opinion polls show the controversy has hurt Clinton‘s ratings on honesty and trustworthiness. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed Clinton leads Trump by 10 percentage points nationally as they launch their general election battle, little change from a week ago.
(With agency inputs.)
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