The first major party female presidential nominee in American history promised Thursday night to be a commander-in-chief “for all Americans together.”
Marking off her formal nomination as a “milestone” for the country, Hillary Clinton pointed to the demographically and ideologically diverse range of speakers at the Democratic National Convention as representative of the kind of people she would speak on behalf of in the Oval Office.
“I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans, Independents, for the struggling, the striving, the successful for all of those who vote for me and for those who don’t,” Clinton said. “For all Americans together.”
Echoing her statement at the 2008 Democratic convention that her supporters had put “18 million cracks in the glass ceiling,” the former secretary of state said her nomination was proof that there were no more barriers for the positions women could hope to hold in the United States.
“I’m so happy this day has come. I’m happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between,” Clinton said. “I’m happy for boys and men, because when any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone. After all, when there are no ceilings, the sky is the limit.”
She said she would “keep going” until the 161 million women in the country have the opportunities they “deserve.”
Later in the address, she called on any American who believed in raising the minimum wage, the right to affordable healthcare, rejecting trade deals unfair to U.S. workers, and comprehensive immigration reform to support her presidential bid.
“Whatever party you belong to or if you belong to no party at all, if you share these beliefs, this is your campaign,” she said, repeatedly calling on those voters to “join us.”
