The Hampton Script

Justin Norris | Staff Writer

Tony Avelar | Associated Press

Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) has officially thrown her hat into the ring by announcing her candidacy for the 2020 presidential election.

The first-term junior senator formally declared her candidacy Jan. 21, on Good Morning America. Harris’ campaign launch was strategic: She announced her decision to run on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the color scheme and layout of her campaign logo draws inspiration from Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president from a major political party.

Harris capitalized on the momentum of her announcement by holding a rally in her hometown, Oakland, California. The theme of her campaign is a nod to her record as a career public servant: “For the People.” The former attorney general and district attorney became even more of a household name due to her tough questioning of Brett Kavanaugh in his Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Harris is among the notable Democrats to express an intent to challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Harris joins Senators Cory Booker (NJ), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) and House members John Delaney (MD), Tulsi Gabbard (HI) as potential Democratic nominees. However, the pool of candidates is expected to expand, with Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) and Vice President Joe Biden are among the next wave of suspected nominees.

In addition to Harris’ coordinated campaign declaration, she has already made it clear that she intends to lead the country in a different direction if she is elected president. At her campaign rally in Oakland, Harris delivered a speech that will serve as her blueprint for her candidacy. According to CNN, Senator Harris said that “people in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other,” and that “we have foreign powers infecting the White House like malware.” These statements are clearly aimed at President Trump and the rhetoric that Harris believes is dividing Americans.

John Harvey IV, a third-year business administration major from Washington D.C., thinks Kamala Harris is a strong choice to become the nation’s 46th president.

“Kamala Harris has already done a great job of garnering media attention by holding a book tour that kept her in the public eye leading up to her decision to run for president,” Harvey said. “As an African American woman and an HBCU graduate, she will appeal to a variety of demographics that will be needed to unseat President Trump. She also seems personable and relatable, which I believe will be key factors in determining our next president. Donald Trump is loved by his supporters. Whoever secures the Democratic nomination will have to be not only respected, but well-liked by his or her party.”

Harris is not new to making history. Harris became the first Indian American to be elected to the Senate, and only the second black woman to do so. According to the Huffington Post, Harris is the first woman, African American and Indian American to serve as attorney general of California.

Harris summed up her quest to make history again at her Oakland rally, saying: “We are at an inflection point in the history of our nation. These are not ordinary times. And this will not be an ordinary election.”