Hillary Clinton has conceded the US election to her rival, Donald Trump, who has been declared the 45th president of the United States.
Clinton called Trump at around 2:45am eastern time to concede that she lost the fight to become the first woman president of the US.
When Trump took to the stage to accept the presidency, he complimented Clinton on a tough campaign. “I’ve just received a call from secretary Clinton,” Trump said. “She congratulated us—it’s about us—on our victory, and I congratulated her on a very hard fought campaign.”
He said America owed Clinton a debt of gratitude for her long service. Clinton’s political experience made her one of the best qualified candidates to have run for the highest US office, having served as secretary of state in the Obama administration, and first lady when Bill Clinton, her husband, was president.
Clinton did not appear at the Javits Center in Manhattan, where her campaign party gathered to watch the election results come in. The mood there darkened over the course of the night, as Trump won crucial victories in states including Florida and Ohio.
In her stead, John Podesta, her campaign chairman, took to the stage alone before the final result was called. He said at the time that the race was too close to call. It’s rare for a concession speech to take so long to deliver.
But Clinton’s fight was particularly bruising, and her defeat will be felt very hard by those who voted for her and believed she offered a vision for a balanced, mature, and intelligent presidency.