Kamala Harris has announced her bid for the 2020 Presidential election.
Harris, who is currently a California Democratic senator, made the announcement during an appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday. “I love my country. I love my country,” she said while speaking with Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos. “This is a moment in time that I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up for the best of who we are.”
This announcement doesn’t comes as much as a surprise, as the former state attorney general has been teasing the idea during a tour for her book “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.”
“Truth, justice, decency, equality, freedom, democracy—these aren’t just words,” Harris says in the video announcement. “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 American values. That’s why I’m running for president of the United States. I’m running to lift those voices, to bring our voices together . . . Let’s do this together. Let’s claim our future. For ourselves, for our children, and for our country.”
Harris’s announcement comes after months of speculation surrounding her decision to run for presidency, if successful, the Democrat will be the first woman and woman of color to become president. Harris’s bid joins other serious Democrat contenders including New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.
Photo Credit: WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 21: U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) speaks to reporters after announcing her candidacy for President of the United States, at Howard University, her alma mater, on January 21, 2019 in Washington, DC. Harris is the first African-American woman to announce a run for the White House in 2020. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)