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The Nevada Democrat issued a plea for his party to consolidate behind Clinton, who has struggled to fend off an insurgent campaign from Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.

"I think the middle class would be better served by Hillary," Reid said.

"I think that my work with her over the years has been something that I have looked upon with awe. She was the first lady. She started the trend toward looking to do something about health care. She understood the issue well, she was the front on the health care during that administration," he said.

Reid added, "I also think she's the woman to be the first president of the United states that's a female."

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Reid's endorsement makes him the highest-ranking Democrat to get behind Clinton, who won last Saturday's Nevada caucuses and is the heavy favorite heading into the next primary in South Carolina. And his comments marked a shift in tone for the Nevada Democrat, who in a CNN interview earlier this month was critical of Clinton's campaign in his state and suggesting that the race could continue until the Democratic convention in July.

On Wednesday, Reid wouldn't repeat that prediction, but admitted it could continue for a while.

"I don't know about that, you know I had some meetings today and I think the race is moving along very quickly so we'll have to see, we'll have to see what happens next month," He said.

Reid also declined to call on Sanders to drop out if he doesn't do well in the upcoming Super Tuesday contests on March 1st, saying Sanders' advisers need to decide the senator's strategy.

Sanders and Reid have had a close relationship over the years. Despite being an independent with tenuous ties to the Democratic Party, Reid agreed to throw the party's weight behind Sanders when he won his first Senate race in 2006. And it was Sanders' decision to caucus with Democrats that helped give Reid the title of "majority leader" for the first time in 2007.

Reid called Sanders Tuesday to deliver the news personally.

"It was a really wonderful call," Reid said, adding that Sanders was "so magnanimous, so kind and courteous."

Reid also said it was a "call of friendship."

Despite serving in the Senate Democratic caucus since 2007, Sanders has yet to win any support from his colleagues; Clinton, meanwhile, has at least 40 Democratic senators who have publicly expressed their backing.

Initially, Senate Democrats largely wrote off Sanders' candidacy. But as Sanders has gained steam, largely on the support of younger and more liberal voters, Senate Democrats have stepped up their attacks, saying Sanders is not ready to be commander in chief, criticizing his democratic socialist views and contending that his domestic agenda has little chance of ever becoming law.

Reid would not criticize Sanders.

Across the Capitol, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has not offered her endorsement, but she is widely expected to eventually back Clinton. Reid sought to maintain his neutrality through his home state's nominating contest, given the prominent role it has played in the overall process.

While Reid helped bring out union and casino workers to the Nevada caucuses that ultimately helped Clinton, he denied that he was tilting the scales in her favor.

In the interview, Reid wasn't shy about weighing in on the Republican race -- and Donald Trump, who won a landslide victory in Nevada Tuesday night.

"The party of Lincoln has become the party of Trump. And that says it all," he said.

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CNN exclusive: Harry Reid endorses Hillary Clinton ...

Hillary Clinton stepped up her attacks today against Republicans vowing to block whomever President Obama nominates to the Supreme Court, accusing them of racism and bigotry.

The Republicans say theyll reject anyone President Obama nominates no matter how qualified. Some are even saying he doesn't have the right to nominate anyone, as if somehow he's not the real president, Clinton said during remarks at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, referring to the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

You know that's in keeping what we heard all along, isn't it?" she continued. "Many Republicans talk in coded racial language about takers and losers. They demonize President Obama and encourage the ugliest impulses of the paranoid fringe, she continued. This kind of hatred and bigotry has no place in our politics or our country.

"The president has the right to nominate under the Constitution, she added to cheers.

Immediately following the death of Scalia on Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he believed the vacancy should not be filled until after the election, and many other Republicans in Washington and on the campaign trail have echoed the thought.

In the days since, both Clinton and her Democratic presidential opponent Bernie Sanders have blasted Republicans for these remarks.

Clinton continued with that criticism during her speech today in which she addressed systemic racism and proposed a $2 billion plan to reform public schools in low-income areas and end the so-called school-to-prison pipeline. When she came on stage, she was joined by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his partner Sandra Lee, Rep. Charlie Rangel, N.Y.C. Mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane, and former Attorney General Eric Holder.

During the speech she also took veiled swipes at Sanders, who, like Clinton, has been making a last-minute pitch to African-American voters ahead of the South Carolina primary.

You cant just show up in election time and say the right things and think thats enough, Clinton said to applause. We cant start building relationships a few weeks before a vote, we have to demonstrate a sustained commitment to building opportunity, creating prosperity and righting wrongs.

Midway through the speech, Clinton had to take a brief pause as she was overcome by a coughing fit.

The crowd gave her a boost of encouragement as she took a sip of water and opened up a throat lozenge.

Hillary! Hillary! they cheered.

I have too much to say, Clinton joked.

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Hillary Clinton Implies Racism Behind Why GOP Won't ...

Hillary and Bill Clinton walking in the inaugural parade, 1993. Courtesy of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

Questions dominated coverage of the incoming first lady in the weeks before the 1993 inauguration. What would Hillary Clinton do as first lady? Would the Yale-trained lawyer have an official position in the new administration? How would she handle the traditional aspects of the first ladys job? Would she permanently alter the role of the first lady? Columnists questioned whether these concerns reflected Americans conflicted feelings about the changing role of women at work and in families. They asked if we should really expect a first lady to be a role model for working women. The questions continued when, the day after the inauguration, the White House announced that Mrs. Clinton would have an office in the West Wing and work on domestic policy issues.

Second only to the favorite speculationwhat kind of president will Bill Clinton make?is the matching question: What kind of first lady will Hillary Clinton make? Christian Science Monitor, December 3, 1992

Gift of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Presidential Inaugural Committee of 1993

Hillary Clinton wore this violet beaded lace sheath gown with iridescent blue velvet silk mousseline overskirt to the 1993 inaugural balls. The dress was designed by Sarah Phillips and made by Barbara Matera Ltd., a New York theatrical costume maker.

Gift of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Presidential Inaugural Committee of 1993

Gift of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Presidential Inaugural Committee of 1993

Gift of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Presidential Inaugural Committee of 1993

For the inaugural balls, Hillary Clinton wore beaded shoes by Bruno Magli and carried a purse designed by Judith Leiber.

Gift of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Presidential Inaugural Committee of 1993

Courtesy of Associated Press

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- Hillary Clinton | National Museum of American History

Early Career Ambitions: Astrophysicist, doctor, or teacher Most Cherished Accomplishment: Her daughter, Chelsea Clinton Most Meaningful Advice Received: Her mother told her that everyday she was given the choice to either be the lead actor in her own life, or a reactor to the performances of others. The Moral Imperative of the 21st Century: "The empowerment of women."

Wellesley College seniors had never before chosen a commencement speaker from their own ranks when Hillary Rodham stepped to the podium on the last day of May in 1969. Education, she said, must grant the courage to be whole and permit people to live in relation to one another in the full poetry of existence. The speech received national attention and marked Rodham as a leading light for the young women of her generation. By now, its safe to say that the early promise has been borne out; had Hillary Rodham Clinton merely attended Yale Law, served on the staff of the Senate Watergate Committee, become a respected children's rights advocate, been the first female partner at her law firm, been a mother, and served as First Lady of Arkansas, we would think of her as a leader. And yet she has by now spent two additional decades at the very heart of the national consciousness as a sometimes-embattled First Lady, as a distinguished senator from New York, as a groundbreaking 2008 Presidential candidate, and as the 67th Secretary of State. Clinton has outlasted the smears to top Gallups most admired woman in America a record 16 times since 1993. On April 12, 2015, Hillary Clinton announced she will run for President in 2016.

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Hillary Rodham Clinton, Crusader For Women | MAKERS Video

"It's been seven years, and a lot has changed," Hillary Clinton said Sunday in her first visit to Iowa since the state dealt her presidential campaign a devastating body blow.

But there was a moment in the afternoon when it seemed like not much had.

Roughly 200 credentialed media were gathered in a far corner of the Indianola Balloon Field, the grassy expanse where Sen. Tom Harkin was convening his 37th and final Steak Fry, an annual fundraiser that doubles as a point of entry for ambitious Democrats curious about the Iowa caucuses.

After a 90-minute wait, the press scrum - scribblers and photographers alike - were herded like cattle through a series of gates and escorted up to a hot smoking grill, waiting to capture the same image: a staged shot of Bill and Hillary Clinton, fresh out of their motorcade, ritualistically flipping steaks with Harkin.

The Clintons ignored the half-hearted shouted questions from reporters - "Mr. President, do you eat meat?" - with practiced ease. They were two football fields away from the nearest voter. Mechanical, distant, heavy-handed: The afternoon spectacle felt a lot like Hillary's 2008 caucus campaign, a succession of errors that crumbled under the weight of a feuding top-heavy staff and the candidate's inability to connect with her party's grassroots.

And then the head fake - and something different.

Read Peter Hamby's report from Indianola in full.

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