CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa: Hillary Rodham Clinton is making her 2016 presidential campaign debut in Iowa at a small-town gathering, part of a concerted effort to tamp down big expectations and hold personal “conversations” with voters.

Clinton, seeking to become America’s first female president, announced her candidacy in a video posted online Sunday and left by van on a trip from her New York home to Iowa, the Midwestern state whose caucuses kick off the long, state-by-state nomination contest.

She was touring a community college and holding a round-table discussion with students and teachers on Tuesday in the town of Monticello.

“I won’t take anything for granted. I’m going to work my heart out to earn every single vote,” Clinton said in a fundraising e-mail to supporters Monday.

The former first lady, US senator and secretary of state appears unlikely to face a formidable Democratic opponent in the primary campaign, unlike in 2008 when she lost the nomination to Barack Obama.

Should she win the nomination, Clinton would face the winner of a crowded Republican primary field that could feature as many as two dozen candidates. Three Republican senators have already entered the race — Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Rand Paul of Kentucky.