I’m running for president. Let’s do this together. Join us: https://t.co/9KwgFlgZHA pic.twitter.com/otf2ez7t1p
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 21, 2019
Kamala Harris officially announced Monday that she is running for president in 2020, reports CNN.
The California Democratic senator released a video on social media calling on others to work with her to “claim our future” in conjunction with her appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“Truth. Justice. Decency. Equality. Freedom. Democracy. These aren’t just words. They’re the values we as Americans cherish. And they’re all on the line now,” Harris says in the video, in which she advertised a kickoff event in Oakland on January 27.
“The future of our country depends on you and millions of others lifting our voices to fight for our American values,” says Harris, a daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India. “That’s why I’m running for president of the United States. I’m running to lift those voices, to bring our voices together.”
Harris opted out of the exploratory committee stage that fellow Democratic candidates Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand have previously announced. According to Vanity Fair, she is the sixth candidate to announce a run for 2020, behind former housing secretary Julián Castro, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda, Maryland Congressman John Delaney, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
Harris chose to announce her bid on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to honor two of her heroes. 47 years ago this week, Shirley Chisholm launched her campaign as the first black woman ever to run for president. Harris’ campaign logo features the colors yellow and red, a nod to Chisholm’s yellow and red campaign buttons. Harris has also noted that she looks up to Martin Luther King Jr. as a life role model for what she views as his “aspirational fight for progress.”
Harris’ book tour earlier this month was a soft launch for her presidential bid. Her memoir, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, details her life experiences and her complex record as a prosecutor, district attorney of San Francisco, and attorney general of California.
As a senator, she has gained popularity as a staunch opponent of Donald Trump and was especially in the public eye for grilling Brett Kavanaugh when he was a Supreme Court nominee. She has also been particularly outspoken about her opposition to the border wall and to family separation.
Harris’ progressive record as a prosecutor includes the creation of a diversionary program for first-time offenders charged with drug offenses that moved them into job training and apprenticeship programs. She also started programs aimed at reducing implicit bias as district attorney of the city and county of San Francisco and as California’s attorney general. She has come under fire as attorney general for her defense of the death penalty, which she described as a sense of duty to the office, even though she personally opposed it.
Her campaign theme “Kamala Harris for the people” reflects the words she spoke often as she rose in the courtroom as a prosecutor.
She will campaign on Friday in early-voting states Iowa and South Carolina.
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