Kamala Harris Officially Running for President

We reported previously that California Sen. Kamala Harris (D) would soon be entering the presidential pool and on Monday she made it official. Harris made the announcement on social media and said an official kickoff will follow on Jan. 27 from her hometown of Oakland, California.

CNN reports on Harris’ decision to launch a campaign and what it means for the rest of the field-in-waiting as more and more big names decide to take the plunge:

Kamala Harris announced Monday that she is running for president in 2020, arguing that the time has come to fight against what she views as the injustices of the past two years of the Trump presidency.

In a brief video from her campaign that was released on social media Monday morning at the same time she appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Harris called on her supporters to join with her to “claim our future.”

“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,” Harris said in the video, teasing her official kickoff in her birthplace of Oakland next Sunday.

Harris’ platform will be heavy on social justice issues, it’s the bread-and-butter where she’s made a name for herself in the Senate. Harris fits the mold of what many analysts think that Democratic voters are looking for, a female, minority candidate to specifically counter the Trump administration and provide a rallying cry for an Obama-like coalition in 2020.

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

Her campaign headquarters will be based in Baltimore, a stone’s throw away from Washington, DC, where she’ll still be spending a lot of time at her job in the U.S. Senate.

Day of Significance

There’s a reason Harris chose Martin Luther King Day to announce her campaign. The most obvious reason is to honor Martin Luther King, Jr as a civil rights icon. The other, less obvious, is special to Harris personally. Forty-seven years ago this week, Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman ever to run for president, officially launched campaign.

In fact, Harris’ campaign colors of yellow and red are a direct throwback to Chisholm’s campaign.

Path to the Nomination

Harris is running as a modern style progressive candidate, considered somewhere to the left of someone like a Hillary Clinton or a Joe Biden. She’ll be in the lane competing for voters who would be inclined to support someone like Elizabeth Warren or even Beto O’Rourke.

Analysts see Harris working her greatest charms in southern primaries where the African-American vote is considered key for any Democrat looking to rack up victories in early primary states. She’ll be heavily targeting South Carolina as her place to make an early stand.

However, since California moved its primary to be held on Super Tuesday in March of 2020, she has a big opportunity early in the process. This gives Harris an obvious advantage since, as her home state, she will start with a lot of built-in support and name recognition.