Hillary Clinton could make history by becoming America's first woman president, fulfilling her own long-held ambition to take the top job in the White House.
The former first lady, senator and secretary of state narrowly missed out on being the Democrat party's presidential candidate in 2008 to Barack Obama.
Born in Chicago in October 1947, Mrs Clinton became active in student politics when she attended Wellesley College, Massachusetts, in the 1960s.
She went on to study at Yale Law School, where she met her future husband Bill Clinton. The couple married in 1975, three years before he became governor of Arkansas. They had their daughter Chelsea – the couple's only child – in February 1980.
After Mr Clinton was elected US president in 1993, Mrs Clinton used her role as first lady to campaign for women's rights and universal healthcare.
But she and her husband also became linked to political scandals during their time in the White House.
An investigation was launched into the Whitewater affair, a failed property project in which the Clintons had invested, but they were cleared of wrongdoing.
Mrs Clinton also faced intense media attention over Mr Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, which came to light in 1998.
She declared in an interview at the time that the scandal - which led to impeachment proceedings - was inspired by a "vast right-wing conspiracy".
In the later stages of her husband's presidency, Mrs Clinton ran successfully for New York senator, and was re-elected in 2006.
In 2008 she sought the Democratic nomination for the presidential election, losing out to Mr Obama who went on to win against Republican rival John McCain.
During Mr Obama's first term, Mrs Clinton was named US secretary of state and visited 112 countries in her four-year term - a record for a politician in her role.
But she faced criticism after an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012 killed four Americans while she was secretary of state.
Her use of a private email server for work correspondence also caused controversy.
An FBI investigation concluded in July that Mrs Clinton and her staff had been "extremely careless" with classified information, but there was no evidence she knowingly shared sensitive material and criminal charges were not recommended.
Just over a week before election day, FBI director James Comey announced the case was being reopened after new emails "pertinent" to the investigation had been discovered.
The unearthed emails were found during the FBI's investigation into former US congressman Anthony Weiner, who is accused of sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old and is married to Mrs Clinton's aide Huma Abedin.
Mrs Clinton has also faced health concerns during her campaign after she she was taken ill at a 9/11 memorial service. It was later announced she was suffering from pneumonia but she recovered in time for the first US presidential debate against Donald Trump.