Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic Party’s 2016 nomination for the White House on Tuesday, becoming the first woman to head the ticket of a major party in U.S. history.
In a symbolic show of party unity, Clinton’s former rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, told the chairwoman from the convention floor that Clinton should be selected as the party’s nominee at the dramatic climax of a state-by-state roll call at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia.
“I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States,” Sanders told thousands of delegates in the Wells Fargo Center, which erupted in cheers.
After a tough battle with Sanders during the state nominating contests, Clinton is now the party’s standard-bearer against Republican nominee Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election.
Clinton, who promises to tackle income inequality and rein in Wall Street if she becomes president, is eager to portray Trump, a businessman and former reality TV show host, as too unstable to sit in the Oval Office.
But Trump, who has never held elective office, got a boost in opinion polls from his nomination at the Republican convention last week. He had a 2-point lead over Clinton in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday, the first time he has been ahead since early May.
Sanders has endorsed Clinton, a former first lady and U.S. senator, but some of his supporters protested in Philadelphia against the party leadership’s apparent backing of her during the bitter Democratic primary fight.
Sections of the convention hall were left conspicuously unpopulated on Tuesday night as delegates from strongly pro-Sanders delegations, including California, walked out after Sanders moved that Clinton be named the nominee. {eoa}
