THE world is waiting with baited breath to see who will emerge victorious in the controversial race for the White House.

But one North-East man has personal reasons for supporting Hillary Clinton in her bid to become the 45th president of the United States.

Father-of-two Brian Boggon, from Darlington, is a distant cousin of the former First Lady.

Despite the nature of some of the lurid accusations and revelations about her Republican rival, Donald Trump, polls suggest it will be a close call when Americans go to the polls next Tuesday.

The Northern Echo:

Mr Boggon, 58, said: “I hopeful her chances are very good, and that is not to do with her being some distant relative, it is to do with the other nutcase who she is up against.

“I suppose, like with Brexit, Hillary Clinton probably represents what you may consider to be the mainstream, but it is whether people could vote for Trump because they are ‘anti’ different things and they want change, but they could end up getting something that they didn’t really want.”

Hillary Clinton’s mining roots in the North-East of England emerged when her husband, Bill, was US president in the 90s.

Her grandfather on her father’s side, Hugh Rodham, was born at Oxhill, near Stanley, County Durham, in 1879.

When he was three, his own father, a miner named Jonathan Rodham, moved the family to Pennsylvania in the United States, and Hugh went on to marry a Welsh woman named Hannah Jones.

The couple’s son, also named Hugh, was born in 1911 in Scranton, and their granddaughter, Hillary Diane Rodham was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1947.

Mr Boggon, who works for Darlington Borough Council, found out about his connection when he traced his genealogy over 20 years ago.

He discovered they share great, great, great grandparents: Jonathan Rodham, who was born in 1779 at Birtley Fell, and Ann Parkinson, born in 1786 in Bishop Auckland.

The 69-year-old former Secretary of State’s own campaign has been damaged by news the FBI is investigating emails sent from a private server at her home.

Despite the closeness of the current race to become of the superpower’s Commander-in-Chief, Mr Boggon remains optimistic Democrat Mrs Clinton will be successful.

Mr Boggon said he would like the opportunity to meet her if she were to follow in the footsteps of former presidents George W Bush and Jimmy Carter, who both came to the North-East when they were in office.

He said: “I would want her to win notwithstanding her being a distant relative. It would be nice to think if she became president I might meet her one day, but I very much doubt it.

“I have a personal interest, but I just think this is the most powerful country on earth, being closely caught up by China, and it is just scary how you have Donald Trump in there with a chance.”