By: Kevin Modeszto | Publish Date: March 27th, 2026
The year was 2016. Hillary Clinton, the first female candidate to be nominated for president of the United States of America, saw that she had done it. She had earned the most votes and would be the next president of the United States. But that isn’t how America works: The candidate with the most votes does not always win. Hillary Clinton, despite earning nearly three million more votes than her opponent, would lose the election to Donald Trump, who won the Electoral College.
Eight years, two election cycles, and another female nominee later, Clinton is still the closest we have had to having a female president. Who is Hillary Clinton? Why did she lose the election? And why has America still not had a female president?
Clinton, born Hillary Rodham, was born on October 26, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois to textile business owner Hugh Rodham. She knew from as early as age 14 that she was going to be a major player in American history, but she also knew that her identity as a woman would be an obstacle.
“My dream was to be an astronaut when I was about 13 or 14 years old and the United States was starting its space program,” Clinton said in a speech in 2012, “so I wrote a letter to the NASA space agency and asked how I could become an astronaut. And I got a letter back saying that they weren’t accepting women.”
In 1965, Clinton enrolled in Wellesley College. As a freshman, she ironically emerged as president of the Young Republicans club. But by junior year, she had solidified her identity as a democrat. When she graduated, she became the first student to ever speak at Wellesley’s commencement ceremony. It was at this point that she first began to make a name for herself.
She then enrolled in Yale Law School, when she met and started dating Bill Clinton. Once she graduated, she was viewed as someone with a bright political future in Washington. But as Clinton wrote, she “chose to follow her heart instead of her head” and followed Bill to Arkansas. In 1974, she became one of only two faculty female members in the University of Arkansas’ School of Law. The next year, she married Bill but did not yet take his last name, choosing to keep their relationship out of her professional career.
She spent the rest of the 1970s making a name for herself in Indiana, most notably becoming a member of and later serving as the first female director of the Legal Services Corporation under Jimmy Carter. In 1978, she became the first lady of Arkansas with her husband’s gubernatorial election win.
During her 12 non-consecutive years as first lady (1979-1981, 1983-1992), Clinton continued serving on various boards, most notably at Rose Law. It was during Bill’s re-election campaign that Hillary Clinton officially became Hillary Clinton. After 1992, she would continue being first lady, but not of Arkansas. She would be the first lady of the United States, the first to have a postgraduate degree.
Clinton was very active during her years as first lady. Healthcare, international diplomacy (She traveled to 79 countries!), and women’s rights were among her top priorities. She did have scandals to deal with, most notably the Monica Lewinsky scandal where Bill was accused of having an affair with his 22-year-old intern.
When her time as first lady ended, Clinton chose to remain in politics. She won a seat as U.S senator in New York and became Secretary of State in President Obama’s first term. After three years in the private sector, Clinton decided she wanted to try politics again. As a teenager, she wanted to be the first female NASA astronaut. As a sexagenerian, she wanted to be the first female president of the United States.
After beating then-Democrat Bernie Sanders in the primaries, Clinton became the Democrat’s candidate in 2016. She would be up against television personality and billionaire Donald Trump. It was a stark contrast: Clinton had spent decades in politics while Trump was a total outsider. She had the upper hand in experience, polling, and was coming off the very popular presidency of Barack Obama. To many, it seemed that this was going to be the moment the United States elected a female president.
However, on the night of November 8, 2016, Donald Trump was announced as the winner of the 2016 election. The next morning, Clinton gave a concession speech.
“We owe him an open mind and a chance to lead,” she said in her concession speech.
Clinton has remained mostly in the private sector since, making the occasional speech and endorsing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during their campaigns.
Bill Clinton had his scandals in office, and Hillary had one of her own during her campaign. Many cite Clinton’s email scandal as the reason she lost the 2016 election. Rather than using a government email address during her time as Secretary of State, she used an email address in a personal server. According to the BBC, Clinton said her motive was not one of malice, but rather one of convenience. Government Blackberries, the primary phone at the time, did not allow for more than one account.
“I thought using one device would be simpler, and obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way,” Clinton said in that same article.
While what Clinton did was not against the law, it certainly did not make her look trustworthy to Americans unsure of who to vote for. But another reason that Clinton lost, which some believe is the ultimate reason, is sexism. The United States, despite having made progress, still has sexism deeply embedded in it. A mere four years ago, major legislation that supports a woman’s right to choose in Roe v Wade was rescinded. A paper by the Blair Center discussed a poll given in 2014.
Only 45% of independent women and 32% of independent men polled hoped to see a female president in their lifetime. A combined 14% of people in the poll either had reservations or were “very uncomfortable” with the idea of a female president. Even her opponent had sexist remarks for Clinton, accusing her of “playing the woman card” and saying it’s “the only thing she’s got going (for her).”
From sexist remarks from her opponent to people showing genuine concern that a female candidate would have mood swings during her period, 2016 America was just not ready to have a female president. Similar arguments and opposition were thrown Kamala Harris’ way during the 2024 election; who also lost to Donald Trump.
It cannot be concluded that sexism is the only reason we’ve never seen a female president. Clinton did have her own scandals and came off 8 years of Democrat rule, and Harris didn’t have enough time to separate herself from the unpopular Biden administration.
But it can be concluded that sexism played a part in both their losses. There is light at the end of that tunnel, though: As women from both major parties; such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Tulsi Gabbard, and Nikki Haley continue to rise through politics, the chances of America electing their first female president increase every election cycle.
You must be logged in to post a comment.