Hillary Ain't Waiting: Clinton Claims Democratic Nomination For President

Hillary Clinton is not waiting until next month’s Democratic convention to claim her party’s nomination for president.

We apologise in advance for the use of such an incredibly-dated meme, but...

Former Secretary OF State HRC notched a victory in the New Jersey primary this morning, Politico reports, giving her more than enough delegates to declare victory over Bernie Sanders and become her party’s presumptive nominee.

If you’re not up-to-date with America’s baffling nomination process, it basically involves individual states voting on who they would like to be their party’s presidential contender in November of 2016. Each state allocates a number of ‘delegates’ to the victor – and sometimes, even the runner up – while the contenders race to a seemingly-arbitrary 'magic number'.

For Democrats, that number is 2,383. Clinton’s combined number of pledged delegates and super delegates (these are special, party-selected voters who only vote during the convention) now exceeds that number.

(A Republican nominee needs 1,237 delegates. Donald Trump is now in the 1300s – and that's not just referring to his ideologies.)

She becomes the first woman – and first First Lady – to topline a major party’s presidential ticket. That is, unless Sanders stays in the race until the July convention – when the nomination is formally handed out – and convinces super delegates to change their allegiances; a move that most experts see as very unlikely.

Clinton welcomed the news of the New Jersey primary by posting the following to Twitter, and changing her avatar to read, “History Made”.

In a speech delivered exactly eight years after she conceded the 2008 nomination to plucky upstart Barack Obama, Clinton congratulated Sanders on his efforts.

“He’s excited millions of voters, especially young people,” she said.

She now faces a battle with Republican contender Trump, who will no doubt continue to raise suspicions over her private email server (controversially used during her time as Secretary of State) and criticise her husband’s conduct in office.

Clinton will also need to recover Sanders' supporters, who have been increasingly hesitant to back HRC, seeing her as part of the establishment... and not so far removed from some of her Republican rivals.

The U.S. election takes place in November. And you thought ours had been going on too long.

Photo: Twitter.