Supporters of Hillary Clinton cheer at the U.S. Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, the United States on July 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Bao Dandan)
Amid huge applause in the convention hall and angry protests outside, Hillary Clinton on Tuesday officially became the first woman to run for the White House on behalf of a major U.S. political party.
The 68-year-old former secretary of state, who enjoys near universal name recognition after almost a four-decade public life, easily exceeded the 2,383-delegate threshold needed to clinch the nomination during a roll call vote by delegates at the convention. The tally included the overwhelming support by unpledged delegates, or superdelegates, for her.
"We are going to win. This is a historic night," Rebecca Reed, a delegate from Missouri, told Xinhua.
"I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the Democratic nominee for president," said Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's archrival in the primaries. Sanders made the move as Vermont was the last state of the roll call.
One day earlier, Sanders delivered a powerful speech calling for his supporters to rally behind Clinton so as to beat the Republican challenger, Donald Trump.
However, minutes after the roll call, about 100 delegates supporting Sanders marched into the media center of the Democratic national convention, staging a protest against Clinton's nomination, waving posters and chanting "walk out" loudly.
"We are taken advantage of by the system. We know there is election fraud in some states and it's been ignored," Caitlin Glidewell, a 20-year-old alternate delegate from Colorado, told Xinhua.
The Democratic convention was rocky with apparent division following the fallout of leaked emails from staff of the Democratic National Committee, which showed that some committee members tried to tip the scales in favor of Clinton to win against Sanders in the primaries.
The email scandal has sparked protests by thousands of Sanders supporters in Philadelphia since Sunday, one day before the start of the four-day convention.
