Hillary makes history: Triumphant Clinton claims victory as the first woman Democratic nominee and puts pressure on defiant Bernie to let her take on unfit, bully Trump in race for the presidency
She spoke to supporters from her Brooklyn, New York, just down the road from her national campaign office, and said, 'tonight belongs to all of you'
After the polls closed in California, President Barack Obama named her the Democratic nominee
Still, Bernie Sanders is refusing to drop out and will hold a rally in om
AP and others yesterday said Clinton was the presumptive nominee - but Sanders has committed to staying in the race for at least another week
Hillary Clinton put new cracks in the nation's 'highest, hardest glass ceiling' tonight as she became the first woman to win the popular vote in a major party's primary.
Speaking to her supporters from Brooklyn, New York, just down the road from her national campaign office, Clinton said her accomplishment belongs not just to her - 'tonight belongs to all of you.'
'It is not about one person, it belongs to generations of women and men,' the 68-year-old former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state, said, proclaiming herself the 'Democratic nominee.'
Paying tribute to her 2008 speech at the end of the line, when she narrowly lost the nomination to Barack Obama, Clinton told her supporters, 'It may be hard to see tonight, but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now.'
'This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings, no limits on anybody.'
After the polls closed in California, Obama called Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the White House said.
'The president congratulated Secretary Clinton for securing the delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic Nomination for President. Her historic campaign inspired millions and is an extension of her lifelong fight for middle-class families and children.'
Clinton reflected on her 2008 loss tonight to the sitting president as she addressed supporters of her current opponent, Sanders, telling them, 'It never feels good to put your heart into a cause or candidate you believe in and come up short,' she said. 'I know that feeling well.'
She had no harsh words for Sanders, who was on the West Coast when Clinton spoke, in California, where polls were scheduled to close within minutes. She reserved those for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who she called 'unfit' for office and a 'bully.'
Sanders' response to her declarations? An email to supporters while she was still speaking announcing a rally Thursday in Washington, D.C., the same day he'll meet with President Obama, per a request.
Sanders spoke to his supporters as the clock struck 2 a.m EST, telling a frenzied crowd he was staying in the fight despite the evening's worse than anticipated results.
With nearly half the votes counted, Sanders trailed Clinton in California by nearly 20 points.
'Thank you, the struggle continues,' Sanders told his raucous crowd, gathered at an airport hangar in Santa Monica, on Tuesday night.
The U.S. senator said he would stay in the race through the capstone Washington, D.C. primary on Tuesday.
'We are going to fight on,' he told his supporters. 'We are going to fight hard.'
Clinton acknowledged Sanders during her remarks from Brooklyn, describing his campaing as 'extraordinary' as she praised his 'long career in public service fighting for progressive causes and principles.'
'He’s excited millions of voters, especially young people. And let there be no mistake: Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we’ve had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.'
Continuing Clinton said, 'This has been a hard-fought, deeply-felt campaign. But whether you supported me, or Senator Sanders, or one of the Republicans, we all need to keep working toward a better, fairer, stronger America.'
Sanders spoke to his supporters as the clock struck 2 a.m EST, telling a frenzied crowd he was staying in the fight despite the evening's worse than anticipated results.
With nearly half the votes counted, Sanders trailed Clinton in California by nearly 20 points.
'Thank you, the struggle continues,' Sanders told his raucous crowd, gathered at an airport hangar in Santa Monica, on Tuesday night.
The U.S. senator said he would stay in the race through the capstone Washington, D.C. primary on Tuesday.
'We are going to fight on,' he told his supporters. 'We are going to fight hard.'
Clinton acknowledged Sanders during her remarks from Brooklyn, describing his campaing as 'extraordinary' as she praised his 'long career in public service fighting for progressive causes and principles.'
'He’s excited millions of voters, especially young people. And let there be no mistake: Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we’ve had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.'
Continuing Clinton said, 'This has been a hard-fought, deeply-felt campaign. But whether you supported me, or Senator Sanders, or one of the Republicans, we all need to keep working toward a better, fairer, stronger America.'
'He is not just trying to build a wall between America and Mexico,' she said. 'He is trying to wall off Americans from each other.'
Clinton said, 'When he says let's make America great again, that is code for let's take American backward.'
The newly-named Democratic nominee reminded her audience of Trump's blunders – including his attacks this week on a Mexican-American judge – while noting how he once mocked a disabled reporter and called women 'pigs.'
'He wants to win by stoking fear and rubbing salt in wounds and reminding us daily just how great he is,' she said.
It was the memory of Clinton's mother that provided the most poignant moment in her victory speech, however.
Clinton shared that her late mother Dorothy Howell Rodham would have celebrated her birthday on Saturday.
She was born June 4, 1919, an especially significant date for women in history, as it's when the 19th Amendment passed, giving women across the country the right to vote.
'I really wish my mom could be here tonight,' Clinton observed. 'I wish she could see what a wonderful mother Chelsea could become and meet her beautiful granddaughter Charlotte,' Clinton said.
'I wish she could see her daughter become the Democratic Party's nominee,' she said, building up to the moment.
Rodham passed away in 2011.
Already, the Associated Press had named Clinton the presumptive nominee, but tonight's results in New Jersey - which Clinton easily won - carried the two-time presidential candidate closer to formally winning the nomination at the Democratic national convention in July.
Tonight New Jersey quickly went to the former secretary of state.
Early results out of California showed Clinton ahead.
The Sanders camp did not realistically expect to win in New Jersey, which borders Clinton's adopted home state, New York. But the California loss is likely to rock the campaign after the candidate spent more than two weeks straight there talking to supporters.
He did, however, take the North Dakota caucus, with CNN projecting a win for the Vermont senator there, and the Montana Democratic primary.
Sanders' vote total in California may have been affected by the Monday evening assertion by news networks that Clinton had enough superdelgate support locked in to win the nomination, regardless of the California results.
Down but not out, Sanders will stay in the race he says at least through next Tuesday with a quick stop home in Burlington, Vermont, before a rally in Washington, D.C.
Democrats in the District have yet to vote, and he intends to stay until then, if not all the way to the convention.
Clinton was named the presumptive Democratic nominee last night, first by the Associated Press and then others, after enough superdelegates said they planned to support the her at this summer's Democratic National Convention for her to hit the magic number - 2,383.
As soon as polls closed in the Garden State, Clinton's campaign sent reporters a memo that declared, 'After tonight, Hillary Clinton will have a majority of the votes, a majority of the pledged delegates and a majority of delegates overall.'
An official with the campaign emphasized that 'going into the primaries tonight, Hillary Clinton has over 13 million votes – a popular vote lead of more than 3 million – and 1809 pledged delegates – a lead of 289 according to the AP.
'This lead is nearly 3 times larger than President Obama’s pledged delegate lead of 106 when he clinched in 2008.
Trump, talking to the press in New York tonight, focused in on his rival promising a speech Monday that would discuss, ''All of things that have taken place with the Clintons.’
'I think you’re gonna find it very informative,' he added. 'I wonder if the press will want to attend?'
In California, however, Sanders carried on as usual.
As New Jersey was being called for his rival, the senator was in his motorcade riding between Los Angeles neighborhoods trying to get out the vote.
His campaign manager Jeff Weaver said today that the senator wanted the Democrats of Washington, D.C., to be able to have the chance to vote.
But there are also telltale signs that the campaign is winding down.
The New York Times reported tonight that about half of Sanders' staff will be laid off Wednesday as there's only one contest to compete in next.
