Would-be first black female president launches on MLK Day
Senator Kamala Harris of California joined the 2020 presidential contest, thrusting a daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India into the Democratic race two years after she arrived in the Senate.
Harris, 54, a former prosecutor raised in a state that has been the crucible of the Trump resistance, expanded a growing field of candidates fighting for the nomination of a party that is increasingly non-white and fuelled by women alienated by the President.
She made the announcement on ABC and in a video posted online. “The future of our country depends on you and millions of others lifting our voices to fight for our American values,” she said in the video.
Harris plans a more formal campaign launch in Oakland, California, on Monday, when she will give a speech outlining her candidacy. If eventually elected, she would be the first woman, the first woman of Asian heritage and the first AfricanAmerican woman as president.
Harris’ message was largely one of unity. During a news conference, she said the core issue of her campaign is “the people”.
“Nobody is living their life through the lens of one issue. I think what people want is they want leadership that sees them through the complexity of each of our lives and pays equal attention to their needs.”
Harris’ announcement drew on history, coming on a day marking the legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, a timing that she said was “very important” to her.
But Harris played down the role of
race. “When people wake up in the middle of the night — whether it be a [mum] in Compton or a [mum] in Kentucky — she’s waking up having the same concerns.”
Harris’ rich heritage has led some supporters to refer to her as “the female Barack Obama”. As a child, Harris attended a Hindu temple and a black Baptist church. Her name comes from the Sanskrit word for lotus plant. Harris’ late mother immigrated from India as an adult and became a physician specialising in breast cancer. Her Jamaican father became an economics professor at Stanford University. They divorced when Harris was young.
Harris attended Howard University and the University of California Hastings College of the Law. She then set out on a career as a prosecutor.
In 2003 she became the first black woman to be elected district attorney in California. When she was elected attorney-general of California in 2010, she became the state’s first female, the first African-American and first Asian-American to hold the
position.