Elizabeth Warren has backed the abolition of the Electoral College and called for Mississippi to replace its state flag, which bears a Confederate symbol, as she hit the road on her presidential campaign.

The 2020 hopeful earned a huge ovation from the audience at a town-hall event in Mississippi after backing the removal of the presidential vote system which saw Donald Trump win the White House in 2016 despite losing the popular vote.

Speaking in Jackson she backed calls for Mississippi - the only state in the U.S. with the Confederate saltire on its flag - to replace its emblem, saying that tributes to the rebel states 'belong in a museum'.

The Democratic Senator also said it was 'time to start a national, full-blown conversation about reparations in this country'.

Elizabeth Warren (pictured) has backed the abolition of the Electoral College, which punished Democrats in 2016 when Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election to Donald Trump despite leading the popular vote

Two of the last five presidential elections have ended in a split result with Republicans winning the White House despite a Democratic lead in the popular vote.

Saying that candidates in a general election 'don't come to places like Mississippi' which are not competitive, Warren said that 'every vote matters'.

'The way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College and every vote counts,' she said.

'I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote,' she said at the CNN town hall.

Donald Trump won the Electoral College in 2016 despite trailing Hillary Clinton by more than two per cent in raw votes - the largest such discrepancy since 1876.

Mrs Clinton was punished for piling up huge majorities in friendly states such as California while losing narrowly in battlegrounds such as Wisconsin and Michigan.

Mississippi has not been a competitive state in recent presidential races, backing the Republican candidate at every election since 1980.

Warren went on: 'I believe we need a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and to make sure that vote gets counted.

Warren (pictured) said it was 'time to start a national, full-blown conversation about reparations in this country'

Speaking in Jackson she backed calls for Mississippi - the only state in the U.S. with the Confederate saltire on its flag (pictured) - to replace its emblem

'We need to put some federal muscle behind that and we need to repeal every one of the voter suppression laws that is out there right now.'

Asked by the host whether Mississippi should replace its 19th-century flag, she said yes, winning huge cheers from spectators.

'I would support removing Confederate celebrations from federal lands and putting them in museums where they belong,' she said.

Discussing reparations for slavery, she said it was 'time to start a national, full-blown conversation about reparations in this country'.

She said she backed a House bill to appoint a congressional panel to investigate the issue.

'There are a lot of ways to think about how reparations could be formed,' she said, declining to promise direct payments.

Asked about impeaching Trump, she said she would await the results of special counsel Robert Mueller's report into alleged collusion with Russia.