PHILADELPHIA—One hundred and nine nominees have been selected by their party to run for the nation’s highest office. And each and every one of them had been a man.
Hillary Clinton changed that Tuesday evening.
The former Secretary of State secured the Democratic nomination after her chief rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, cleared the way. Sanders and the Vermont delegation nominated Clinton by acclamation, meaning an official counting of the ballots was not required.
“I move that Hillary Clinton
Clinton appeared via video to close out the night, thanking the party for the nomination and urging any young girls who were watching that “you could be next.”
“We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet,” Clinton said. “This is your victory, this is your night.”
Just minutes earlier, her husband, former president Bill Clinton, addressed the delegation. He attempted to humanize Hillary Clinton, beginning with the tale of how he met his wife at Yale Law School. He then touched on her experience as a lawyer with the Children's Defense Fund and her service as a New York Senator and Secretary of State.
"Hillary is the best darn changemaker I have ever known," Bill Clinton said. "You can drop her into any trouble spot ... she will have made it better."
He painted a very different portrait of the newly crowned Democratic nominee and he noted the flaws probed by Republicans in their convention last week.
"How do you square this with what you heard at the RNC? You can't," he said. "One is real and the other is made up. You just have to decide which is which. The real one had done more positive
Much of the evening was dedicated to showcasing Hillary Clinton’s policy experience. Speakers on subjects ranging from health care to criminal justice to foreign policy were brought out to testify to her acumen.
"As a presidential candidate, she has talked about systemic racism in ways no one else has," retired U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said.
One of the most emotional parts of the evening was a presentation by the so-called “Mothers of the movement” who lost children to gun violence. The eight women, all black, discussed the difficulty they’ve faced since losing a child.
"I did not want this spotlight. But I will ... focus this spotlight on a path out of this darkness.
They praised Hillary Clinton for her leadership and record on helping people of color.
"Hillary Clinton isn't afraid to say black lives matter," Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, said. Her son was shot to death in 2012 after a confrontation over the volume of his music.
