Hillary Clinton is officially the first woman to top a major party ticket — and Bernie Sanders helped put her there Tuesday evening.
Sanders came to the floor at the Democratic National Convention at the end of their official roll call vote for President to ask that the party give Clinton the nomination by acclamation, his latest move toward unifying the party and assuaging his most stubborn supporters.
Clinton formally surpassed the 2,382 delegate votes she needed to officially lock in the nomination when the South Dakota delegation cast its votes during a state-by-state roll-call early in the evening.
But Sanders’ surprise speech provided the moment of catharsis.
“I move that the convention suspend the procedural votes … I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States,” he said before he kissed his wife Jane.
The crowd inside the Wells Fargo Center erupted into a deafening roar, with loud “Bernie” chants overtaking several delegations.
Sanders was then ushered out of the arena and Democratic National Committee interim Chairwoman Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) retook the stage.