Kamala Harris Confirms She's Running For President
Harris made the announcement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Reuters / KC McGinnis
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) announced on Monday that she's running for president, joining an already crowded primary where she will be accompanied by a number of her Senate colleagues.
Harris, 54, is the freshman senator from California and has made a national name for herself in just over two years with an important post on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a video released on social media Monday morning as she appeared on ABC's “Good Morning America,” Harris urged supporters to “claim our future,” saying: “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.”
The official launch of her campaign will take place in her birthplace of Oakland next Sunday. “The future of our country depends on you and millions of others lifting our voices to fight for our American values,” the Democratic California senator went on. “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, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, is the first African-American woman to announce a run for president in 2020. Of the three Senators who are already in the race, all three are women.
She chose to publicize the decision on Martin Luther King Jr. day as well as line it up with the 47-year anniversary of Shirley Chisholm's decision to run for president.
Prior to the formal announcement in Oakland, Harris will travel to the early voting state of South Carolina.
The slogan on her website, "For the People," harkens back to Harris' tenure as a prosecutor in California, a phrase she'd use in court. It emphasizes her willingness to campaign on her record despite new scrutiny from some on the left about her time as San Francisco District Attorney and later California Attorney General.
"Let's do this together," Harris says at the conclusion of her launch video. "Let's claim our future. For ourselves, for our children and for our country."