Nicole LaChapelle’s voice quavered with emotion Tuesday night, moments after the delegate cast her roll-call vote to nominate Hillary Clinton for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
The historic vote made Clinton the first woman to lead a major political party in the United States.
“As a woman, it brings me to tears. The fact that we’ve waited so long, and that she’s so qualified,” said LaChapelle, of Easthampton. “My grandmother and my mother grew up with no female leaders, and now I, as a female, just cast a vote to change that. I have a daughter, and now I am able to look her in the face and know the world is better.”
LaChapelle, 49, is a member of the Democratic State Committee and a delegate from the 1st Congressional District. She was elected as a delegate for Clinton in April along with Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse and Springfield School Committee member Calvin McFadden.
LaChapelle said she admires Clinton for her resilience after being “condemned and vilified” in the public eye for decades, and believes she is the most qualified candidate for the presidency.
“It was surreal to look around during the roll call and have women in their 80s, and young women, some who are voting for the first time,” LaChapelle said. “It was uplifting.”
LaChapelle, McFadden and Morse agreed that the Democratic Party was unified Tuesday night during the roll-call vote. Delegates sit alphabetically for the vote, LaChapelle explained. She found herself next to “hard-core Bernie Sanders supporters” and felt their sadness and disappointment, she said.
But the group of Bernie-or-bust delegates who staged a walkout after the votes were tallied in protest were “few and far between,” indicating party unity, LaChapelle said.
“I’m excited to have great conversations with my fellow delegates who were there for Bernie, and figure out where we’re going next.” LaChapelle said. “The first two days of the convention have a lot of rules. The last two days will be of celebration and discussion about how we’re going to move forward with the platform and really do this.”
Compared to the first day of the convention, Morse agreed the party felt much more united Tuesday. A delegate pledged to Clinton, Morse said Monday “ended on a high note” and there was “hardly any disruption and cheers for everyone” on the convention floor Tuesday.
“People are fired up,” he added.
With his 9-year-old daughter in mind, McFadden said he was “absolutely overjoyed to be a part of history” and vote for Clinton during the roll call.
“Just as I believe it was significant for African-American children to see Barack Obama as the president, I believe it is absolutely appropriate for our children, especially young women, to see Secretary Clinton nominated for president,” McFadden said. “The glass ceiling has been broken.”
McFadden said some Sanders supporters were “really holding out until the end” at the convention. He thought Sanders made a strong appeal to his supporters Monday night when he endorsed Clinton in his speech. McFadden said he expects Clinton will be successful in the general election.
McFadden’s favorite speech of the convention thus far came from first lady Michelle Obama.
“When they go low, we go high,” McFadden said, echoing a poignant moment in Obama’s speech. “Our job now is to defeat Donald Trump,” he added.
McFadden, a delegate pledged to Clinton, said he is eagerly awaiting her acceptance speech Thursday night.
State Rep. Paul W. Mark, of Peru, who represents portions of Berkshire and Franklin counties and is a Sanders delegate, said he has not heard any of the booing or negativity that has been emphasized in the media, but has felt the “excitement and upbeat mood” at the convention.
What he heard, loud and clear, was the Vermont senator’s message that what’s needed is to keep his message going, and that everything his campaign has advanced “is dead if there’s a President Trump, that there’s no way to continue to build that, there’s no piggybacking.
“He’s supporting Hillary Clinton, and I think it’s really important that once she’s the nominee, people need to get together. A lot of people, especially there on floor and have been supporting him, I think they understood. I know I did.”
Moving forward, Mark said that with Sanders supporters who have been attracted to politics for the first time because “finally they had a candidate speak their language, saying things they were waiting to hear,” getting them to continue advancing those issues will be key.
“How do you get them to realize the game isn’t over, that we’re at halftime now, we’re still on the same team, we need to get over the hump in November?” he asked. “That’s where the organization we’ve developed over the last few months and the message from Bernie is so important: The movement isn’t dead unless you let it die.
“If you walk away now and you let Trump and his people run this country, we’re definitely not getting a higher minimum wage, nobody is going to care about the environment, we’re not stopping TPP, we’re not getting equality or social justice. The important message by the end of this week and as we move forward is that we get more and more people united.”