California Senator Kamala Harris announced this morning on Good Morning America that she is officially running for president. Harris, who said she was honored to be making the announcement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, is one of now four women who have announced that they’re considering a bid for the presidency. Representative Tulsi Gabbard is now officially running, and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand have formed exploratory committees.
If she were to win the nomination, Harris would be the first black woman nominated to represent a major party in the general presidential election. Her campaign staff says their logo pays homage to Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president in 1972. In the spirit of the “unbought and unbossed” Chisholm, Harris will not accept corporate PAC donations.
In 2016, Kamala Harris became only the second black female Senator ever to be elected (the other was Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, who was elected in 1993). Only two years into her Senate term, Kamala Harris has quickly made a name for herself for championing policies like Medicare For All and for her sharp questioning of Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings.
Harris started her career as a criminal prosecutor in the Bay Area. She was California’s first black female attorney general. Though Harris sought to be a reformer, some critics say that her time as attorney general was marked by some tough on crime policies. However, her campaign says that criminal justice reform will be a key issue in her platform. Other key issues of her campaign will include immigration and the rising cost of living for middle class Americans.
Top photo credit: kamalaharris.org
Published January 22, 2019
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