Hillary Clinton conceded the White House race to President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday morning, saying she hoped "he will be a successful president for all Americans."
"This is not the outcome we wanted or work so hard for. I'm sorry we didn't win this election vision for our country," the Democratic nominee told supporters crowded into a small, nondescript ballroom at the New Yorker Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
It was a much different venue from the first major party female presidential nominee she had hoped to deliver a victory speech instead last evening from the Javits Convention Center — on a stage shaped like the United States of America underneath a glass ceiling in a massive convention hall.
Clinton seemed to be choking back tears at times, as did her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who spoke just before her. Flanked by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, daughter Chelsea and her husband Marc Mezvinsky, the disappointment and shock was palpable on their faces and in the still-stunned supporters in the room.
"I know how disappointed you feel because I feel it too," Clinton said. "And so do tens of millions of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort."