Hillary Clinton makes American history by becoming the first woman nominated by a major party to be president
Her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders cannot overhaul her but has vowed to fight on anyway
HILLARY Clinton has reached a historic milestone as she becomes the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate and the first woman to be nominated by a major party.
President Barack Obama called her to congratulate her on winning enough of the delegates needed to clinch their party’s nomination.
It comes after five states in the USA went to the polls last night to have their say about who they want to take on Donald Trump in the race for the White House.
Clinton won three – New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota – and, although the final result has not yet been declared, looks like she will also win California.
Her rival Bernie Sanders won just North Dakota, but has vowed to continue to fight on.
In her victory speech Clinton declared a historic victory for women as she is the female to be a candidate for America’s top job for one of the two main parties.
She said: “Tonight caps an amazing journey – a long, long journey.
“It may be hard to see tonight but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now.
“But don’t worry. We’re not smashing this one.
“Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone. The first time in our nation’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee.”
And at the Brookly Navy Yard in New York City she congratulated her rival Bernie Sanders on his campaign.
She said: “He has spent his long career in public service fighting for progressive causes and principles and excited millions of people, especially young people.”
And she added that the debates inspired by Sanders and his legion of supporters “have been very good for the Democratic party and for America”.
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She also took aim at Donald Trump, saying: “He’s not just trying to build a wall between America and Mexico, he’s trying to wall off Americans from each other.
“We are better than this. We won’t let this happen in America.”
Referencing his campaign slogan, she added: “When he says let’s make America great again, that is code for let’s take America backwards.”
“To be great, we can’t be small. We have to be as big as the values that define America.”
The Democratic Party now has the job of convincing all the people who supported Sanders to rally around Clinton.
Sanders and President Obama are set to meet at the White House today to discuss how to do this.
In a statement the White House said: “[In a phonecall] The President thanked Senator Sanders for energising millions of Americans with his commitment to issues like fighting economic inequality and special interests' influence on our politics.
“In addition, at Senator Sanders' request, the President and Senator Sanders will meet at the White House on Thursday to continue their conversation about the significant issues at stake in this election that matter most to America's working families.
“The President looks forward to continuing the conversation with Senator Sanders about how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters, and to build on that enthusiasm in the weeks and months ahead.”
But Donald Trump is trying to woo Sanders’s supporters saying he will work very hard to win their support.
Trump said: “To all of the Bernie Sanders supporters who have been left out in the cold in a rigged system with superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms.”
Sanders was hoping for a big finish with a California win but instead he has just had to warn his supporters against going to Trump.
“The American people in my view will never support a candidate whose major theme is bigotry,” he said and thanked his supporters for ‘being part of the political revolution.”
He has vowed to take the fight to the last primary election in Washington D.C.
