Hillary Clinton claims she laid the groundwork for Kamala Harris' presidential bid in self-indulgent op-ed

Hillary Clinton couldn't resist highlighting her two failed presidential bids as she endorsed Kamala Harris against Donald Trump.

The former first lady and secretary of state was defeated by Barack Obama in the Democratic primary in 2008, and by Trump at the 2016 election.

But that didn't stop Clinton from boasting that she 'won the national popular vote' in 2016 while giving  Harris her enthusiastic support and predicting she can become the first female US president.

Vice President Harris is the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race against Trump on Sunday.

Clinton, 76, compared herself to Harris in a piece for the New York Times on Tuesday, where she portrayed herself as blazing a trail for Harris, 59.

'While it still pains me that I couldn't break that highest, hardest glass ceiling, I'm proud that my two presidential campaigns made it seem normal to have a woman at the top of the ticket,' she wrote.

Clinton, who was first lady to her husband Bill in 1993 to 2001, explained how she was a victim of sexism as a female presidential candidate.

'I know a thing or two about how hard it can be for strong women candidates to fight through the sexism and double standards of American politics,' she wrote.

'I've been called a witch, a 'nasty woman' and much worse. I was even burned in effigy. 

'As a candidate, I sometimes shied away from talking about making history. I wasn't sure voters were ready for that. And I wasn't running to break a barrier; I was running because I thought I was the most qualified to do the job.'

She did acknowledge Harris would 'face unique additional challenges as the first Black and South Asian woman to be at the top of a major party’s ticket'.

Clinton wrote she was optimistic that Harris could overcome this, drawing on the silver linings of her failed run.

'After all, I won the national popular vote by nearly three million in 2016, and it’s not so long ago that Americans overwhelmingly elected our first Black president,' she said, in reference to Obama.

Clinton also referenced herself in comparing her repeated electoral failures to Biden's 'patriotic' decision to abandon his bid for a second term.

'As one who shared that dream and has had to make peace with letting it go, I know this wasn’t easy. But it was the right thing to do,' she wrote.

Harris was 'chronically underestimated, as are so many women in politics', Clinton declared, and would have to 'cut through the noise' to win the election.

'Harris’s record and character will be distorted and disparaged by a flood of disinformation and the kind of ugly prejudice we’re already hearing from MAGA mouthpieces,' she wrote.

'A second Trump term would be much worse than the first. Mr Trump’s plans are more extreme, he is more unhinged, and the guardrails that constrained some of his worst instincts are gone.'

Clinton was elected to the US Senate in New York after her husband's term expired, and served until 2009 when she was appointed secretary of state by Obama.

She only served one term before stepping down to focus on having a second shot at the presidency, winning the nomination over Bernie Sanders.

However, despite winning the popular vote 48.2 per cent to 46.1 per cent, she decisively lost the Electoral College 227 to 304.

Clinton surrendered the swings states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin - which are again critical for Harris to win this year.

She also lost Iowa, Ohio, and Florida, all of which Obama won in 2012 along with the other three critical swing states.