Election 2016: Hillary Clinton wins Democratic primary in New Jersey

Staff and wire reports

Hillary Clinton is embracing her historic mantel as the first female nominee of a major political party.

Her campaign created a video featuring footage of pivotal moments in women’s history interspersed with images of Clinton. The video will play before she takes the stage tonight in Brooklyn at a rally organized to celebrate her claiming the nomination.

Clinton strengthened her hold on the nomination when she won the Democratic primary in New Jersey, according to AP projections.

“Let’s keep making history,” reads a caption at the end of the tape.

This time, Clinton gets the celebration she’d hoped for in 2008, when she lost the primary to then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama — and by many accounts, long before that.

Clinton secured the 2,383 delegates she needed for the nomination on the eve of Tuesday’s voting, according to an Associated Press tally. Her total is comprised of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses, as well as superdelegates — the party officials and officeholders who can back a candidate of their choosing.

“We are at the brink of a historic, historic unprecedented moment,” she said during a rally in Long Beach on Monday.

Clinton was waiting until most of the voting was complete Tuesday before fully reveling in becoming the first woman nominated by a major U.S. political party. She was to address supporters at a victory party in Brooklyn, where her campaign plaed to run a gauzy video highlighting the achievements of women who helped clear a path.

Still, she was wasting no time moving toward the general election. Her campaign aounced that she would make stops next week in Ohio and Pesylvania, states that will be pivotal in November.

Her victory speech tonight in Brooklyn carries meaning and history to Clinton and her supporters.

It comes after the one-two punch of clinching the nomination in historic fashion and wrapping up the last big round of primaries. It also marks the eight-year aiversary of Clinton’s concession speech to Obama, in which she noted her campaign hadn’t breached “that highest, hardest glass ceiling” but that barrier now had “about 18 million cracks in it.”

She’s now assured of crossing that boundary as the first woman to win the presidential nomination of any major party. How she proceeds toward Election Day begins with mending the stubbo split between her supporters and those of rival Vermont Sen. Beie Sanders’ — and depends significantly on how well she leas a bracing lesson he taught her: Young people, especially young women, flocked to him in the primaries.

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The occasion also opens the gates to flashy endorsements. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco didn’t wait for the votes Tuesday to aounce her support. There’s a bigger one on the horizon from President Obama, followed by joint appearances.

Clinton supporters basked in the moment.

Riverside resident Peggy Haro, 60, voted for Clinton in 2008 and again Tuesday.

“I think it’s wonderful for her, and it’s wonderful for women,” she said. “I think it’s time for a change. Everyone has to have a chance to be up there, to be president of the United States.”

Haro said she was pleased that voters elected a black president, Barack Obama, in 2008 and again in 2012.

San Beardino City Councilwoman Virginia Marquez, a Democrat, called Clinton’s apparent victory a historic moment.

“I never thought I’d be looking at an election that would have a female candidate (for president),” Marquez said, recalling her first time voting in the 1976 election for Jimmy Carter. “It’s an incredible jouey.”

Marquez said she’s confident that Clinton will go on to win in the fall, giving the United States it’s first female president.

“It’s very significant as a woman myself,” Marquez said. “This will speak volumtes to the world that we can elect women.”

San Beardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales, a Democrat, called Clinton’s nomination “a great political breakthrough.”

“It definitely identifies the fact that different perspectives, in this case a female perspective and presence, has a strong approval rating and high acceptance level and that bodes well for all women that are attempting to enter and succeed in politics or in the corporate arena,” she said.

Women still face challenges of having to work harder than male colleages or not being taken as seriously, Gonzales said.

“The fact is there are many well-camouflaged obstacles, whether it’s in politics or the corporate world, that continue to present challenges for women,” she said.

Riverside League of Women Voters President Joan Donahue said Hillary Clinton’s expected nomination is an important political moment.

Donahue didn’t back Clinton in the primary, but she said she would happily vote for her in November.

“Women are well known for getting things done with results that produce a win-win situation,” she said.

But Donahue is worried about the reaction from voters who oppose having a woman in a position of such power.

“Misogyny is the last holdout of bias,” she said.

Ofelia Valdez-Yeager, a Riverside resident, was ecstatic.

“I’m thrilled,” said Valdez-Yeager, past president of the Latino Network, a nonprofit that addresses Latino issues.

“When you think of history and what women have had to go through to get the right to vote and strive for equal pay, you say, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s been a long time coming,’” she said. “She’s the most qualified woman in my lifetime to be president.”

Valdez-Yeager said she attended Clinton’s recent rally at UC Riverside and, along with her daughter, Marisa Yeager, has been making phone calls for her campaign.

Clinton is articulate, knows the issues and has foreign policy experience as former secretary of state, she said.

“Now we have to work hard to make sure the Democratic Party comes together so we can elect the first woman president,” Valdez-Yeager said.

In San Diego, 82-year-old Harry Backer strolled past cyclists, skateboarders and kayakers on the way to vote for Clinton. The retired teacher, who also worked in construction, said America needs a level-headed, grounded woman with world experience.

“I’m left of Beie Sanders, but I know that she’s the candidate that can possibly get something done,” Backer said.

He also wanted to be part of history in making Clinton the first woman to top the ticket of a major U.S. political party.

Bob Burhe, 82, a retired Sioux Falls, South Dakota, businessman, said he voted for Clinton because it’s time to put a woman in the nation’s highest office.

“Men have been in charge long enough,” Burhe said. “And they’re smarter than us, anyway.”

Staff writers Brian Rokos, Alicia Robinson, Imran Ghori and The Associated Press contributed to this report.