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THE former chair of the Democratic National Committee has said a successor for Hillary Clinton must be found immediately in case pneumonia forces her out of the presidential race.

Don Fowler, who led the party’s powerful governing body between 1995 and 1997, warned it would be unreasonable not to have a contingency plan in place in case the former First Lady is forced to stand down.

Mr Fowler’s warning came as it emerged Mrs Clinton had kept her diagnosis secret.

Warning the Democratic party would suffer infighting if no replacement was found now Mr Fowler said: “It’s something you would be a fool not to prepare for.”

(Image: Facebook)

Fowler, who said he believes Clinton will get better, warned that strong support for current vice-president Joe Biden and losing presidential nominee Bernie Sanders could split the party.

He urged high-ranking Democrats, including Barack Obama, to work together now to decide on a successor now is case Clinton’s condition deteriorates.

“Now is the time for all good political leaders to come to the aid of their party,” he warned.

The Democratic Party’s rules allow for the DNC to name a replacement, but don’t provide many guidelines on how the process is to be performed.

Fowler’s warning came as Clinton said she had kept her pneumonia diagnosis a secret because she didn’t “think it was going to be that big a deal”.

(Image: Getty)

Her illness came to light on Sunday after she was forced to abruptly leave the 9/11 memorial ceremony after appearing to faint at the service.

After the “medical episode” at Ground Zero, where she was seen to lose her balance, buckling at the knees and being held up by her aides, her physician revealed she was suffering from pneumonia.

Her campaign team had earlier blamed “overheating” leading to her to be taken away and back to her daughter, Chelsea’s nearby apartment.

But speaking to CNN on Monday night Clinton insisted she simply suffered a dizzy spell.

She said she had hoped to “power through” her pneumonia rather than take time off to recover but after cancelling several appearances she said she was now “feeling so much better”.

“Obviously I should have gotten some rest sooner,” she told Anderson Cooper, after calling into his show.

“I probably would have been better off if I’d just pulled down my schedule on Friday, but like a lot of people, I just thought I could keep going forward and power through it and obviously that didn’t work out so well.”

Clinton, 68, says she is now “feeling fine and getting better” and is eager to get back out on the trail, as her campaign promised to release more information on her health soon.

Sunday’s incident came as Donald Trump, 70, put more pressure on his rival to release her medical records saying he had no problem publishing his own In August he took to Twitter saying: “I think that both candidates, Crooked Hillary and myself, should release detailed medical records. I have no problem in doing so! Hillary?”

Trump has attempted to portray Clinton as lacking sufficient stamina to serve as president, despite her reputation as one of the most travelled secretaries of state and presidential candidates in US history.