Hillary Clinton: Historic milestone for women

Hillary Clinton declared a historic victory for women on Tuesday as she grasped the Democratic Party nomination and the chance to become America’s first female President.

“Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone,” a beaming Ms Clinton told ecstatic supporters in New York: “the first time in our nation’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee.”

The former First Lady took a dramatic step toward the White House by winning New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota, three of six states voting on the last major date of the 2016 primary calendar.

The biggest prize of all, California, was still up for grabs, but with polls closed there and 40 per cent of precincts reporting, Ms Clinton held a substantial lead. The victories effectively put an end to her battle with challenger Bernie Sanders, the self-declared democratic socialist senator from Vermont who waged an extraordinarily successful grassroots campaign. But Mr Sanders, ignoring the political writing on the wall, vowed to “continue the fight.”

“Our mission is more than just defeating Donald Trump, it is transforming our country,” he declared to supporters in Santa Monica, California.

Ms Clinton’s triumph came almost eight years to the day since her first Oval Office bid was spectacularly thwarted by a charismatic young Senator named Barack Obama. Two terms later, the 68-year-old declared another glass ceiling broken, setting up a colossal showdown in November with Mr Trump, the bombastic Republican flagbearer.

“We believe that we are stronger together and the stakes in this election are high, and the choice is clear,” she said, before launching into a frontal attack on her Republican rival.

Ms Clinton held a commanding lead over Mr Sanders even before Tuesday’s votes, having passed the magic number of 2,383 delegates required to clinch the nomination. But like Mr Obama before her, Ms Clinton must now reconcile a bruised and deeply divided party and rally it behind her. Mr Sanders has harnessed a tidal wave of anger at the ruling political class. With an insurgent campaign he challenged Ms Clinton harder for the party nomination than most believed was possible.

“I want to congratulate Senator Sanders for an extraordinary campaign,” Ms Clinton said, touching on the watchwords of her rival — inequality and upward mobility.