Hillary Clinton passes responsibility for shattering the glass ceiling to Kamala Harris in emotional DNC speech: ‘The future is here’

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Caitlin Clark broke the WNBA rookie record for assists, Taylor Swift gets roped into the discussion of AI and politics, and Hillary Clinton passes the torch to Kamala Harris. Have a lovely Tuesday.

- Glass ceiling. So far in her presidential campaign, Kamala Harris has mostly talked about the issues rather than the possibility that she'll be the U.S.'s first female president. Perhaps she was just waiting for the right messenger. That person showed up Monday when Hillary Clinton delivered a full-throated endorsement of Harris that put her nomination in historical context at the opening night of the Democratic National Convention.

Clinton was of course expected to become the first female U.S. president in 2016 before her shocking loss to Donald Trump. While President Joe Biden also spoke last night to pass the torch to Harris, in a way, Clinton's endorsement did the same. The glass ceiling she so often spoke of during her 2016 campaign is now Harris's to break through. "On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris taking the oath of office as our 47th president of the United States,” Clinton told the cheering crowd.

Clinton placed Harris's nomination in the context of her own campaign. After all, Harris is up against the same opponent. Trump has mocked Harris's name and her laugh, Clinton noted. "Sounds familiar," she joked. But the former secretary of state also put Harris's candidacy in historical perspective, going back to women earning the right to vote, to Shirley Chisholm's 1972 run for the presidency, to Geraldine Ferraro's 1984 run as vice president.

"It still takes a village to raise a family, heal a country, to win a campaign," Clinton said in a nod to her famous line.

"When a barrier falls for one of us, it falls and clears the way for all of us," Clinton said. Clinton has proven that is true; she was the first woman to be her party's general election nominee for president so that path was cleared for Harris. Clinton was also the first woman to win the popular vote. If Harris wins the White House, she'll shatter the ceiling that Clinton first cracked.

Stay tuned for more from the DNC throughout the week.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

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