Hillary Clinton secures spot as first woman presidential nominee of major US Party.

By Morgan Allen
Journalism Intern

Following South Dakota’s vote in the Democratic National Convention roll call Tuesday evening with 10 votes for Senator Bernie Sanders and 15 votes for Hillary Clinton, Clinton secured the 2383 necessary votes needed to win the Democratic nomination. With this, Clinton becomes the first woman to run as a major party nominee for the office of the President of the United States.

As every state voted, each speaker noted that Senator Sanders had done immense work during his campaign, but that they were proud to give a general majority of the votes to the “next President of the United States” Hillary Clinton.

Forty-one states voted majority in favor of Clinton, including Arkansas, Missouri and Texas. Each state was allotted time to talk about their history and notable residents. Many brought up their state’s personal fight for equality of gender, sexuality and race. Special speakers also had time to speak on behalf of their states, such as an Oklahoma Cherokee Matriarch who noted that she was born only twenty years after women were allowed to vote and now she was voting for a woman. Many also noted their state’s personal support of current President Barack Obama back at the 2008 convention in Denver.

The joyous roll call starkly contrasted the divisions and audible protests of Monday. Many convention goers are hoping that Hillary’s official nomination will quell further divisions and bring the party together. Many states spoke of a need for unity within the party in the hope to turn the country blue.

Sanders was all smiles as Vermont casted their 26 votes—22 to Sanders and 4 to Clinton. He then spoke on behalf of his home state of Vermont, who had previously passed on their vote until the end. Wild applause erupted as well as chants of “Bernie, Bernie” as the Senator stated that he “moved that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party to be the next President of the United States.” His strong support of Clinton hopes to heal deep divisions that have rocked the party in recent months.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, chair of the DNC, said Sanders was “moved in the spirit of unity to suspend the rules and nominate Hillary Clinton by acclamation as the Presidential Candidate of the Democratic Party.”

Clinton went into the convention with 2,807 pledged delegates, and cinched the vote with 2,842 pledges making her the official Democratic nominee for President of the United States. She will take on Republican nominee Donald Trump in November. She is expected to accept the nomination Tuesday evening after her husband and former President Bill Clinton speaks.

A breakdown of The Gayly’s region is as follows:

Arkansas—27 Clinton, 10 Sanders; 37 votes total

Kansas—14 Clinton, 23 Sanders; 37 votes total

Missouri—49 Clinton, 35 Sanders; 84 votes total

Oklahoma—20 Clinton, 22 Sanders; 42 votes total

Texas—179 Clinton, 72 Sanders; 251 votes total

Copyright 2016 The Gayly - 7/26/16 @ 6:16 p.m. CDT