Shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday, after roll call wound down, U.S. Sen. from Vermont Bernie Sanders essentially ended his campaign by asking convention leaders to suspend convention rules, a procedural move that made Hillary Clinton officially the Democratic presidential nominee.
Though the Democratic National Convention started off shitshowishly Monday, there was little jeering as, alphabetically, each state and territory recited the quantity of delegates they were awarding Sanders and Clinton.
In Florida, Clinton won 163 delegates to Sanders' 72; all the most delegate-rich states went for Clinton.
States Sanders won included, of course, his home state of Vermont (which passed on the first go but gave him 22 and Clinton four) as well as Oregon (39-34), Oklahoma (22-20), North Dakota (14-7), Maine (18-12), Nebraska (16-13), Minnesota (47-42) Washington (72-42, two abstentions) and Utah (29-8).
And with that, the United States had its Ovarian-American major party presidential candidate.
There were no surprises, really.
No revolts, either.
No one said the system was rigged.
No one shouted about the poisonous machinery of the corporate Clinto-Trumpocracy.
It was just tens of thousands of people watching a historic moment, albeit a bittersweet one for some.
Clinton will take the stage Thursday to officially accept the nomination.
It's about time, said supporters who spoke following the roll call process.
"Nothing is more wholesome than the increased participation and leadership of women in government and politics," said U.S. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi shortly after the nomination.
Though fractiousness characterized the opening hours of the convention, Sanders supporters have apparently calmed down since Monday afternoon, though there's no telling whether it will rear its head again.
Minutes after the news, the campaign of Donald Trump, now officially her Republican opponent, issued a statement through a spokesman playing up what were once differences between Clinton and Sanders, namely over controversial trade policies like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which staunch Sanders supporters have adopted as a wedge issue in the Democratic primary.
"Hillary Clinton and [VP nominee] Tim Kaine are corporatists and globalists. They will approve TPP, protect NAFTA, enable China, and destroy the U.S. middle class — causing the most harm to Latino and African-American workers," read a statement from Stephen Miller, a senior policy advisor to the Trump campaign. "Bottom line: if you want to know who will follow Wall Street, just look at who is being funded by Wall Street: Hillary Clinton."
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2016.