Former vice president Walter Mondale has died at the age of 93, his family has said.

Mr Mondale served in the US Senate from 1964 until he was elected vice president in Democrat Jimmy Carter’s victory in 1976.

His family said: “It is with profound sadness that we share news that our beloved dad passed away today in Minneapolis, Minnesota.”

Mr Mondale served as vice president under Mr Carter until 1981.

While the two did not always agree, Mr Mondale was often the bridge between Mr Carter and a difficult Congress.

In 1984 he ran for president, becoming the first major US party presidential nominee to choose a female running mate – congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York.

This would not happen again until 2008 when Republican John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate.

But Mondale and Ferraro were convincingly beaten by Republican Ronald Reagan, losing 49 of the 50 states and carrying only his native Minnesota as well as Washington DC.

His campaign included a promise to raise taxes to cut the budget deficit by two-thirds during what would have been his first term.

Despite the pledge sinking his campaign, he said as late as 2004 that he had no regrets, telling PBS: “It’s something that I felt good about and I thought I told the truth”.

Eighteen years later, then aged 74, he was persuaded to run for a senate seat after Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash just days before the 2002 election.

But he lost to Republican Norm Coleman.

He did not return to politics until 1993, serving for three years under president Bill Clinton as US ambassador to Japan.

Mr Mondale was born in Ceylon, Minnesota, on 5 January 1928, the sixth of seven children.

He married his wife Joan in 1955 but she died in 2014.

They had three children.

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