CHICAGO — Hillary Clinton, the first female Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, rallied support for Vice President Kamala Harris‘s presidential nomination on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, emphasizing the party needs to be “clear eyed” about the long road to Election Day and declaring “this is when we break through” the proverbial glass ceiling.

“Together, we’ve put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling,” Clinton said to an energized crowd of delegates. “Tonight, so close to breaking through once and for all.”

Even before Clinton began her speech, delegates stood and applauded for an extended period of time. She reflected on her past as the Democratic nominee in 2016.

“It was the honor of my life to accept our party’s nomination for president. Nearly 66 million Americans voted for a future where there are no ceilings on our dreams,” she said.

“I wish my mother and Kamala’s mother could see us. They would say, ‘Keep going’,” Clinton said, as delegates chanted “Keep going.”

Clinton drew a contrast between Harris’s historic candidacy and former President Donald Trump, mentioning he’s “made his own kind of history: the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions. Delegates responded by chanting “Lock him up.” Clinton didn’t quiet the crowd.

The former Secretary of State and New York senator endorsed Harris the same day President Joe Biden announced he was leaving the 2024 race and praised her work as a former prosecutor and California attorney general.

“Kamala has the character, experience, and vision to lead us forward,” Clinton said. “I know her heart and her integrity. We both got our start as young lawyers helping children who were abused or neglected. That kind of work changes you. Those kids stay with you.”

“Kamala carries with her the hopes of every child she protected, every family she helped, every community she served,” Clinton added.

As Clinton addressed the DNC with the hope of building on Harris’s momentum, the second woman to win a major party nomination, delegates acknowledged the contributions the former secretary of state had made to make this moment possible.

“Hillary cracked the ceiling and Harris is going to shatter it,” said Aileen Pettinger, a delegate from Saginaw, Michigan. “We are going to step all over that glass with our Converse and our pearls, and we are going to prove that Harris is the candidate to beat Trump.” 

Delegates from across the country told the Washington Examiner they feel much more optimistic about the election with the sudden elevation of Harris as the presidential nominee. They had hoped to see Clinton become the first woman elected president, but now eight years later they have a second chance to make history.

Many of the 5,000 delegates will never forget the night Clinton lost the 2016 election to Trump and never had the opportunity to deliver her victory speech under the glass of New York’s Javits Center, a representation of the barrier she would have broken as the first female U.S. president.  

A post ‘Me Too’ campaign

In the eight years since Clinton’s loss, there have been major cultural changes, from the #MeToo movement to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Experts believe these will be major motivating factors to get out the vote.

Clinton emphasized the urgency of electing Harris in this critical moment.

“As [resident, she will always have our backs. She will fight to lower costs for hard-working families. Open the doors wide for good-paying jobs. And, yes, she will restore abortion rights nationwide,” Clinton said during her speech, to a standing ovation.

“There is no issue more important than the contrast between the two candidates on abortion,” said Zac Petkanas, a Democratic strategist and the director of rapid response for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “Donald Trump is personally responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade, he brags about it. That is something that is going to be ingrained in the minds of voters, especially women. The importance of that cannot be overstated.” 

Daniel Hernandez, an Arizona delegate, was in Philadelphia at the convention in 2016 as Clinton accepted the nomination. He said this time feels very different.  

“I started my career in politics working for Gabby Giffords, but also originally working for Hillary Clinton,” Hernandez said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. ”Being able to be here to help nominate the second woman to be the Democratic nominee, but hopefully the first female president is like a full circle moment for me.”

“It’s a really good opportunity to come back and elect the first woman president because we’ve had 46 men and now it’s time for a woman to take her proper place at the top of the ticket,” he added.

When Clinton clinched the presidential nomination eight years ago, images of the nation’s 44 male presidents were projected on the jumbotron in Philadelphia beneath an image of a plate of shattered glass to represent the history-making moment. However, Harris is not expected to draw too much attention to the subject of gender in her remarks on Thursday, according to a source familiar. So far, she has avoided drawing attention to the significance of her nomination in her campaign. 

“I think it is very obvious to the American people what a historic candidacy this is, and that is creating an energy that is going to be important to propelling Kamala Harris through the glass ceiling that Hillary Clinton put a thousand cracks in,” Petkanas said.

Harris, the first black and South Asian American person to lead a major party ticket, has largely focused on her middle-class upbringing and record as a former prosecutor. Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, a delegate from Maryland, said she is far more concerned about her record and platform. 

“To be perfectly honest, I really couldn’t care less about her gender or her demographic. I just think that we need an optimistic, thoughtful set of plans and strategies and policies that will bring our people and country forward,” she said. “If we break some glass ceilings, that’s terrific, but that’s not what excites me.”

“What excites me is that people across the country are getting mobilized and excited about a better future for everyone,” she added.

Unlike Harris, Trump has focused on her identity, questioning if she only recently “became black.” Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) caught some flack, referring to Democrats as “childless cat ladies.”

‘Cat ladies of the country united’

In the days since Harris became the nominee, young creators have flooded social media feeds with memes and videos to bolster her candidacy. Republicans had long used many of these videos against Harris, but in recent weeks, her supporters have flipped the script and are using the same clips to paint her in a new light. 

“The cat ladies of the country united, OK. It went right back in their face,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said, speaking to a New York delegate breakfast on Monday. “There’s coconut memes, there’s brat summer, there is her laugh set to Beyonce music, we’ve taken this back, and you should be very proud of that and keep it up.”

“I know being a woman candidate out there isn’t easy. They find everything to make fun of you, about your clothes and everything,” she added.

Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 by 2.8 million votes but lost by 100,000 in critical battleground states. Liano Sharon, a Michigan delegate, said he’s confident the Harris campaign has learned from Clinton’s mistakes, pointing to her missteps in the Wolverine State.

“I think the country was ready to elect a woman last time, the only problem was that they picked the wrong woman,” Sharon explained. “There were an awful lot of reasons why Clinton was a terrible choice and she demonstrated that. Kamala has done exactly the opposite.”

“She’s actually paying attention to what is actually moving people, as opposed to Clinton; she didn’t pay attention to that at all. Like she didn’t even visit Michigan, you know, during her campaign,” he added.

Harris appears to be borrowing a few strategies from Barack Obama that worked when he ran for president in 2008. While his supporters were enthusiastic at the prospect of electing the first black president, his message did not mention his race in his campaign, rather focusing on the future and his messaging that he would be a president for all.

In TV ads in swing states, Harris is taking a similar approach, touting her work as a prosecutor, and California attorney general, while also talking about her upbringing, working at McDonald’s in college. Sergio José Gutiérrez, CEO of a digital strategy agency Espora and a former advisor to Clinton, believes Harris’s campaign has demonstrated that they have learned from the mistakes of the 2016 campaign. 

“Clinton was perceived by many as being too focused on traditional politics and her own level of preparedness and expertise,” Gutiérrez said, speaking to the Washington Examiner. “Her highly professional image, though valuable, was sometimes seen as a form of arrogance or disconnection from voters’ everyday concerns.” 

“Kamala Harris can draw valuable lessons from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign by avoiding errors related to perceptions of disconnect, adjusting digital strategy, managing misinformation effectively, consolidating a broad coalition, maintaining authenticity in communication, and being adaptively prepared for debates and public appearance,” he added.

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Toward the end of her speech, Clinton urged voters to seize the moment and not to get “distracted or complacent.”

“I want my grandchildren and their grandchildren to know I was here. That we were here. And that we were with Kamala every step of the way,” Clinton said. “This is our time. This is when we stand up. This is when we break through.”