Hillary Clinton delivers concession speech after shock defeat to Donald Trump

Fiona Simpson10 November 2016

Hillary Clinton has spoken out for the first time since suffering a shock defeat to Donald Trump in the US election telling supporters the loss was "painful" and America is "more deeply divided that we thought".

Speaking from a New York hotel, where the Democratic politician had hoped to make a victory speech, she told supporters: “Thank you my friends, thank you so very much for being here, I love you all.

“Last night I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him.

"We must accept this result. Donald Trump is going to be President.

Concession speech: Hillary Clinton speaks for first time since shock election loss
AFP/Getty Images

"We owe him an open mind and a chance to lead."

Holding back tears, Mrs Clinton described the defeat as “deeply disappointing” but said the campaign had “not been about one campaign or one election”.

Addressing female voters, she added: "I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but I know someday someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

“And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable, powerful, and deserving of every opportunity in the world and every chance to pursue your own dreams.”

Donald Trump: The president-elect at his election night rally in Manhattan
REUTERS

She said: "This is painful, and it will be for a long time.

"But, I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person, it was about building a country that we love.

"We have seen that our country was more deeply divided than we ever thought."

Mr Trump stormed to victory earlier today after the tightest race to the White House in history.

As the President-elect won polls in crucial swing states including Florida, Ohio and North Carolina the result began to look bleak for Democratic voters.

Defying pollsters, analysts and even leaders of his own Republican Party, the outspoken outsider passed the finishing line of 270 electoral college votes needed to become the 45th President of the United States.

A Trump win in Pennsylvania gave him 274 votes in the electoral college. With results still being counted in some states, Mr Trump was also winning the popular vote by 1 percent.

In his victory speech, the billionaire businessman paid tribute to the Democratic candidate after months of lambasting her as “Crooked Hillary” and offered an olive branch to his critics.

He declared: “Now it’s time to bind the wounds of division. It’s time for us to come together as one people.

“I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans."

And, speaking of Mrs Clinton added: "‘Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debit of gratitude.

But, the former first lady’s aides said she was too distraught to give a concession speech.

The democratic candidate remained locked away in her New York hotel room as the billionaire businessman celebrated just two miles away in Manhattan.

Hillary Clinton supporters in dismay after her defeat

1/17

Blasted by claims she was being “ungracious” by refusing to publicly accept defeat, Mrs Clinton rang Mr Trump at 2.30am (local time) to accept the inevitable.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in