Kamala Harris announces she is running for president in 2020 – By Alex Pappas (FOX News) / Jan 21 2019
Kamala Harris’ rise to political power started in California, where she served as a district attorney and attorney general for the state. And it might culminate in a 2020 presidential run.
California Sen. Kamala Harris announced Monday she is running for president, joining a fast-growing crowd of Democrats jumping into the 2020 race.
“I’m running for president of the United States, and I’m very excited about it,” Harris said.
Harris, 54, made the announcement on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Harris also released a campaign video on Twitter where she said, “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.”
“The future of our country depends on you and millions of others lifting our voices to fight for our American values,” Harris said. “That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.”
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
The former California attorney general was elected to the Senate in 2016. Since then, she has worked to establish a national profile through her aggressive questioning of President Trump’s judicial nominees on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She plans a formal campaign launch in Oakland on Jan. 27. The campaign will be based in Baltimore, with a second office in Oakland.
Harris launches her campaign fresh off of a tour to promote her latest memoir, “The Truths We Hold,” which was widely seen as a stage-setter for a presidential bid.
Still, her record as a prosecutor and state attorney general has attracted new scrutiny from liberals as she has inched closer to a presidential run.
University of San Francisco associate law professor Lara Bazelon recently argued in an op-ed piece that the perception that Harris acted as a “progressive prosecutor” during her tenure as the district attorney of San Francisco and then California’s attorney general contradict her actions.
“Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent,” Lara Bazelon wrote in the New York Times.
Republicans are taking her seriously as a top-tier candidate.
“At 54, Harris is two decades younger than some of her septuagenarian competitors – an age that enables her to appeal to the Instagram crowd without being painted as inexperienced,” said Colin Reed, a Republican strategist who worked for former Republican Sen. Scott Brown. “A child of immigrants, she brings diversity to a party obsessed with racial and gender politics.”
Harris’ announcement comes as a slew of Democrats have begun making plans to run for the White House in 2020.
In recent weeks, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro have moved forward with plans to seek the party’s nomination.
Other prominent figures, including former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, are also mulling possible campaigns.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kamala-harris-announces-she-is-running-for-president-in-2020
