2020 elections

Kamala Harris Is Running For President in 2020

Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris. Photo: Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images

Senator Kamala Harris is the latest Democrat to declare a 2020 presidential bid, joining an increasingly crowded field.

Harris, the second black woman ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate and a former California attorney general, made her announcement Monday on Good Morning America, in which she pledged to be a “fighter” for the American people. She also addressed the historic nature of her candidacy and decision to announce her bid on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, saying, “I’m honored to be able to make my announcement on the day that we commemorate [King].” Per the New York Times, her announcement comes 47 years after New York congresswoman Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman to seek the presidential nomination.

“I love my country,” Harris continued on GMA. “And this is a moment in time where I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight for the best of who we are.”

While she was on ABC, Harris’s team released a campaign video on social media, in which the senator calls on her supporters to work with her to “claim our future.” In the video, the senator also introduces her campaign slogan — “Kamala Harris: For the People” — which is a nod to her career as a prosecutor.

“Justice. Decency. Equality. Freedom. Democracy,” she says in the video. “These aren’t just words. They’re the values we as Americans cherish. And they’re all on the line now.”

Harris’s bid comes just after the conclusion of her book tour, which was seen as a soft launch for her 2020 campaign, and after three other women have announced their intention to run for president: Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. If elected, Harris would become the first woman and the second black person to become president.

Kamala Harris Is Running for President in 2020