Chelsea Manning, the transgender Army whistleblower who served seven years for leaking material to Wikileaks, is running for the US senate from Maryland.

Federal election filings show that Ms Manning, 30, is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for a seat currently held by Ben Cardin, who has served two terms and said to be a favourite to win a third in November.

Reuters said Ms Manning did not immediately respond to requests for a comment. Mr Cardin also did not comment.

Ms Manning was in 2013 convicted of the largest leak of classified documents in US history and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Last year, then President Barack Obama commuted her sentence to time served and she was released from a military prison in Kansas.

Reports said Ms Manning moved to Maryland after her release and friends and family raised more than $175,000 to support her through an online campaign.

Chelsea Manning tearfully says thank you to Barack Obama

The Washington Post said Mr Cardin, who is Maryland’s senior senator, is not considered especially vulnerable to a challenge from within the state. It said, however, an outside candidate with national name recognition, such as Manning, could tap a network of donors interested in elevating a progressive agenda.

Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Show all 12 1 /12 Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence torbakhopper/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Garry Knight/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence People hold signs calling for the release of imprisoned wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning while marching in a gay pride parade in San Francisco, California June 28, 2015. Manning has appealed to an Army court to overturn her court-martial conviction, a court filing released on Thursday said. Reuters Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Around twenty activists associated with the Chelsea Manning support group rally in front of the White House in Washington DC, Sunday May 11, 2014. Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Daily Chalkupy/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Around twenty activists associated with the Chelsea Manning support group rally in front of the White House in Washington DC, Sunday May 11, 2014. Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Twitter Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Abigail Edward holds up a sign advocating the release of WikiLeaks whistle blower Chelsea Manning along the Gay Pride parade route in San Francisco, California on Sunday, June, 26, 2016. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Demonstration for Chelsea Manning in London, England, United Kingdom. Chelsea Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning) is a United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents. Manning was sentenced in August 2013 to 35 years imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in the eighth year, and to be dishonorably discharged from the Army. Manning is a trans woman who, in a statement the day after sentencing, said she had felt female since childhood, wanted to be known as Chelsea, and desired to begin hormone replacement therapy. From early life and through much of her Army life, Manning was known as Bradley; she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder while in the Army. Mike Kemp/Getty Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Chelsea M Queer Friends/Twitter Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Instagram Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Jil Love Revolution/Instagram

Mr Cardin was easily re-elected in 2012, beating his Republican challenger by 30 points in the heavily-Democratic state.

Ms Manning was working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. She was convicted by court-martial of espionage and for providing more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks.

Among the material was a now notorious video that showed an incident from 2007 when a US Apache attack helicopter attacked upon individuals in a Baghdad suburb. Amongst the over twelve people killed by the 30mm cannon-fire were two members of staff working for the Reuters news agency.