Harris is just the second African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She sits on the powerful Senate Judiciary and Intelligence panels. If elected, she would be the first woman to win the White House, as well as the first black female president and the first president of Asian descent.
Stated on Harris’ campaign website, “Harris has supported Medicare for all, legalization of recreational marijuana, sanctuary cities, passing a DREAM Act, lowering taxes for the working-and middle-class while raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and has disavowed most corporate donations.”
Harris’ resume also comes with high praise, via her campaign site, “Kamala has been a key voice in the fight to hold the Trump administration accountable, asking the tough questions on behalf of the American people. She serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Select Committee On Intelligence, and the Committee On Budget.”
But with uncertainty of the people, SF Chronicle reported, “A Qunnipiac University poll in December found that 57 percent of respondents didn’t know enough about the California senator to form an opinion. It could be worse: Sixty-eight percent felt the same way about Harris’ fellow senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who announced last week that she was running.” Though in the land of the progressive internet, Harris comes as a saving grace. The former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general will focus her campaign on her earlier work protecting woman and children who suffered from sexual violence, students who were taken advantage of by for-profit colleges, homeowners hurt by the foreclosure crisis and families choked by serial polluters, as well as her office’s role in advancing the marriage equality movement.
The something-for-everyone approach is designed to position her as a potential voice for progressives and moderates, from millennial women who supported Bernie Sanders to Democrats who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Harris’ campaign reading, “Kamala Harris For The People.”
Much like her counterpart, Mayor London Breed, the SF Bay Area will have a lot cheer for when both their upcoming races start again.
In a campaign kickoff video, Harris said she would hold a rally at noon Sunday in her hometown, Oakland, at Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall. She also debuted her campaign theme: “For the People.”
Much is to be known about her campaign, her positions as a potential president, or her ethos on American politics from a higher vantage point but only time will tell.
// Jan. 27th, Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, 12:00PM; kamalaharris.org.
