Kamala Harris is running for president

View Sen. Kamala Harris' statement.

UPDATED, 12 a.m., Jan. 22.

"I'm running for President of the United States," said Sen. Kamala Harris in an email to her supporters sent early this morning (Jan. 21).

In declaring her candidacy on Martin Luther King Day, the ethnically mixed Harris becomes the first woman of African American descent to declare her candidacy for 2020 and also the first Indian American to run for the highest office in the country.

When asked at a press conference held at her alma mater, Howard University, later Monday, when asked about her ethnicity and how she describes herself, Harris laughed: "Did you read my book? I'm a proud American."

Her email to her supporters follows:

Decency. Justice. Truth. Equality. Freedom. Democracy.

These aren’t just words: they’re the values we, as Americans, cherish. Right now, they’re all on the line.

We face the greatest crisis of leadership we’ve seen in our lifetimes, and powerful voices are filling the void, sowing hate and division among us.

We’ve witnessed an Administration that aligns itself with dictators and refers to white supremacists as “very fine people.” They’ve torn babies from their mothers’ arms and put children in cages.

They’ve slashed taxes for corporations and the wealthiest among us -- placing the burden on the middle class. They’ve actively fought against efforts to combat climate change. Time and again, they’ve sabotaged our country’s health care. And they’ve attacked our free and independent press at every turn.

We know America is better than this -- but it's on us to build it. We’re going to have to fight for it.

I’m ready to take on that fight alongside you. That’s why, today, I’m proud to announce that I’m running for President of the United States.

 I want to be clear: ours will not be a campaign against our current president. It will be a campaign FOR the very future of our country. FOR the people.

Together, we will fight FOR a country with strong public schools in every zip code. A country where one job is enough to pay the bills. A country with full, universal health care for every single American. 

Together, we will fight FOR a country where getting a college education doesn’t mean taking on a lifetime of debt. Where middle-class and working families are prioritized with tax breaks, not corporations or the wealthiest 1%. Where every single person can retire with dignity. Where every single person can breathe clean air and drink clean water. Where Black women aren’t three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. A country where for-profit prison businesses -- a billion-dollar industry -- are a thing of the past. We’re going to fight FOR an America where all our civil rights are respected.

We’re going to seek truth and speak truth. That’s my promise to you.

Ours is a fight born of optimism -- of the promise of what our country can become if we unite behind a common cause. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to earn your vote and -- most importantly -- your trust.

Let’s do this,

Kamala Harris

Harris fights an uphill battle against better known candidates. According to polls, she ranks below former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders and newcomer Beto O'Roarke, who ran a spirited, albeit unsuccessful, campaign against incumbent Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

However, she is higher ranked among the women candidate that includes Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and New York's Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand -- all who have declared their candidacies or launched exploratory committees earlier this month.

The men who have declared their candidacies thus far, include: Texas' Julian Castro, the former HUD Secretary under Obama, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, who declared his intentions in June last year and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who declared about a year ago.

All-in-all, about two dozen Democrats have expressed an interest in being the Democrats' nominee for president. The number of candidates -- including the most women to run for president -- will be a gauntlet for whoever the nominee will be. The debates and likely negative attacks could weaken or expose weaknesses for whoever the Democrats choose in the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 2020.

Harris will officially launch her campaign next Sunday, 12 noon on July 27, at Frank Ogawa Plaza in her hometown of Oakland, Calif. You need to RSVP to attend.

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