By Sam Klaassen
This election has been unlike any other in American history: The candidates’ main arguments for themselves are their arguments against each other, and one of their only similarities is their lack of popularity among Americans. So how did this “nasty woman” make it to election night?
Hillary Clinton’s interest in politics began when she worked on Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign while she was still in high school. She went on to be the President of Young Republicans at Wellesley College, switch political parties, attend Yale Law School, become the first female senator of New York, serve as secretary of state, and try for almost nine years to be elected President of the United States.
“I’m in:” These were the two words that showed up on Clinton’s website in early 2007, announcing her candidacy in the 2008 Democratic primaries. She would eventually suspend her campaign and endorse Barack Obama, but went on to become Secretary of State under Obama’s administration in 2009.
Clinton officially announced her second bid for the White House in April 2015. This time, she faced a very different primary season with unexpected competitor Bernie Sanders. The Vermont senator’s campaign had one of the most liberal platforms in the history of the Democratic Party, framing his campaign as a grassroots movement. Sanders had strong support from the college student demographic, capturing 70 percent of the under-30 vote during the primaries. His supporters were left to unite around Clinton, but did so only to varying degrees of enthusiasm and she continues to struggle to win over some of Sanders’ biggest supporters. He may have endorsed Hillary, but the “bern” remains.
Clinton’s campaign has faced its fair share of obstacles due to her past mistakes. In 2012, she took responsibility for the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in her resigning as secretary of state in early 2013. In 2015, the New York Times reported that Clinton exclusively used a personal email address connected to a privately owned server, as opposed to an official government email, during her term as secretary of state. Clinton has been unable to dodge questions surrounding the controversy ever since.
On July 26, 2016, Clinton officially became the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, becoming the first woman to be on the ticket as a presidential nominee. Her new competitor would be unprecedented in his own right as the Republican Party nominated businessman and entertainer Donald Trump, whose campaign has been unpredictable in contrast to Clinton’s carefully curated narrative.
52 years after working on her first presidential campaign, Clinton has made it to Election Day and will await the results at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. The building, notably, has a large glass ceiling.
