Hillary Clinton finished out her 19-month presidential campaign with an emotional final rally in North Carolina that began after it had already become Election Day on the East Coast, declaring a campaign trail mantra: “love trumps hate.”
Marking the end of a four-state, whirlwind last day on the stump, the Democratic nominee took the stage in Raleigh with her husband, Bill Clinton, their daughter, Chelsea, as well as pop stars Lady Gaga and Jon Bon Jovi, to deliver her closing message.
“Tomorrow night, this election will end,” Clinton said, prompting her supporters yell out: “Today!”
“But our work together will be just beginning,” she said.
To Clinton’s left, supporters held up letters to spell out: “MAKE HISTORY.” Behind her, her husband and former president looked on with obvious pride, more than once clasping his hands in front of his face as though he were in awe of the woman before him.
“I want you to know and I want you to spread he word: I want to be president for all Americans. Not just some,” Clinton said. “None of us want to wake up Wednesday morning and wish we had done more.”
A grandmother to Chelsea’s two young kids, Clinton concluded her final campaign speech by describing what is at stake on Election Day for parents and grandparents.
“When your kids or grandkids ask what you did in 2016,” she said, “you’ll be able to say you voted for a stronger, fairer, better America. An America where we build bridges, not walls. Where we prove, conclusively, that yes: Love trumps hate.”
With those words, Clinton concluded her second presidential campaign.
Her day had begun with a first rally in Pittsburgh, where Clinton pleaded with Americans to reject Donald Trump’s “pessimistic” worldview. She also asked the country to look ahead to the work that needs to be done after Election Day.
“Tomorrow is the election, but that is just the beginning,” Clinton said. “We have to heal this country. We have to bring people together, to listen and respect each other.”
The former secretary of state and her campaign have been intently focused on get-out-the-vote and early voting efforts over the last few weeks, urging Americans to resist the temptation to stay home and vote before November 8 if they can. All day Monday, Clinton stressed the importance of heading to the ballot box Tuesday for those who have not yet voted.
With a renewed sense of urgency, Clinton said in Pittsburgh that voting on Tuesday is a “vote for yourself, vote for your family, vote for your futures.”
And as she has been doing throughout the general election, Clinton sought to paint a stark contrast between her candidacy and Trump’s.
“We don’t have to accept a dark and divisive vision for America,” she said. “Tomorrow you can vote for a hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America. Our core values are being tested in this election.”
Clinton even urged voters that confront long lines on Election Day: “Please wait.”
“In early voting, we have had people waiting in line for two and three hours,” she said. “And there have been reporters and others going up and down the line asking people, all kinds of Americans, not one type, all types, ‘Why are you here?’ ‘Because my future depends on it,’ they say.”
Several hours later, campaigning in Allendale, Michigan, just outside of Grand Rapids, Clinton stressed that the support she has received from Republicans across the aisle signals “why this election is so different.”
“It’s why so many Republicans have spoken out to endorse me and support me,” Clinton said, adding that some Republicans “have taken very courageous stands against the nominee of their own party.”
“Because they believe that we must put country ahead of party,” she said.
Once again painting Trump’s vision as “pessimistic” and dark, the Democratic nominee said she simply doesn’t see the country through her opponent’s lens.
“People look at us with yearning,” Clinton said. “We are already great, but we can be greater. And we will be greater.”
At her final rally, Clinton evoked Bon Jovi’s famous single, “Livin’ On a Prayer,” to concede that there was not much more she could do.
“Between now and the time the poll closes tomorrow, we are going to be livin’ on a prayer!” she said.