6 Moms and Their Kids Explain Why They Are Excited to See the First Female Presidential Nominee
Hillary Clinton made history on Tuesday night when she was officially nominated as the first female presidential candidate from a major party in American history. After a week packed with speakers like President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and former President Bill Clinton, on the last night of the Democratic National Convention, Clinton was introduced by her daughter, Chelsea Clinton. Calling her mother a role model, she said, "I'm voting for the woman who knows woman's right are human rights." Cosmopolitan.com interviewed six mothers and their children at the DNC about what it means to see Clinton accept the nomination.
Appolonia Ezeanii, 40-something: "I believe this is history in the making. Hillary Clinton becoming the first woman president. That's something pretty exciting for me. That's pretty much why we came [from New York]."
Apapa, 7: "Because she's not Donald Trump!" [when asked about whether it's exciting to have a female candidate]: "Uh, presidents can be women."
Julie Hudman, 49: "It means the world. We actually were early supporters when she ran the first time. We are super happy with Barack Obama but are now thrilled that she's going to be our next president. It means so much that we got credentials to bring our kids, especially my 11-year-old daughter, Maya."
Maya, 11: "It means a lot because the first woman to ever be nominated. Now I feel like I could be president. Hillary came to my parents' wedding, so she's a part of our family."
Nancy Werner, 44: "I was born in 1971 and my mom really instilled that girls could grow up to be anything that they wanted to be, and I'm actually a biomedical engineer. When I was little, she told me that I could be the first woman president if I wanted, and she also told me I could be a doctor - there weren't a lot of doctors in those days and she was a nurse. So it's really powerful for me to be here."
Rory, 12: "I'm really excited to be here. It seems so obvious that a woman can be anything that a man could be."
Josanne Lopez, age withheld: "A woman representing her party as the nominee for the president of the United States is huge in my lifetime. I want my 9-year-old daughter to witness that. It's history. My dad used to take me to things all the time when I was little so that I could remember it when I was older and this can inspire her. Her being here, her witnessing this, gives her such a foundation in confidence in knowing that this can happen for women."
Seble, 9: "She'll be the first woman president. It means that women can do stuff that men can do."
Janet King, 39: "I am very excited about the first female nominee. The first female president. I went to Wellesley, so there's an added excitement and exuberance there. I've been following her for quite a while through her career as the first lady, a senator, a Secretary of State, and now today. I can remember when I was in high school in 1995 when she was on her way to Beijing and I went to a boarding school in Guam and she had to fly over on Guam on her way and everybody was writing about how she was always nagging on an issue - and that word actually came up. That Hillary Clinton was nagging. I remember writing to the editor of the Pacific Daily News saying that she's advocating for civil rights, social justice, and how dare you say 'nagging.' From there on I knew that if you remain silent and you just watch, things like that will happen. Negative views and things don't get moving.
I want Katie to grow up in the environment of strong women. I've always tried to do that from the moment she was born. I don't want her to just have me as a role model. I'm hoping that she'll keep looking up to me, but I want her to know that that is the norm. That's not the exception and that's not spectacular. It's the norm. So bringing her here is not only the making of history, but it's going to be something that as she grows up, it will no longer be groundbreaking, shattering, or newsworthy because in her generation I'm hoping and I'm really looking forward to women being in top positions of business and government."
Katie, 5: "Hillary Clinton is going to be the president of the United States. I'm next, Mommy."
Beth Dunn, 50: "It's very special. I was also a Clinton appointee for Bill Clinton, and that was 20, 25 years ago, and it's like having Hillary to finish what we started there. Before we went out to Iowa, Katie had said that she wanted to be the first woman president. And so, we explained that we were hoping Hillary would, so that was something we shared with Hillary when she was in Iowa. Katie came around and is OK with having Hillary first and Katie will give it a try next time. And that's kind of what Hillary said last night."
Katie, 10: "I would really like to see a woman president. It'd be really special and it'd be really cool to see a woman president."
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