Senator Kamala Harris has officially announced that she will be seeking the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
The senator from California made her announcement on Good Morning America on Martin Luther King Day with plans to launch her campaign at a rally in Oakland, California this weekend.
“I am running for president of the United States,” she told Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos. “I am very excited about it. I am very excited about it.”
“I love my country, and this is a moment in time when I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight for the best of who we are,” she explained of why she was running for the country’s top office.”
Harris had hinted at her interest in running in recent months, even releasing her book “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” earlier this month.
Books have been a longtime path for any ambitious politician trying to develop a national profile in preparation for public office — specifically the presidency.
Her campaign also released a promotional video that outlines the theme of her candidacy: “For the people.” The slogan is a nod to her career as a public defender, in which she would rise in court to say, “Kamala Harris, for the people.”
Her campaign also confirmed that their headquarters will be based in a Baltimore, Maryland, headquarters with a second office in Oakland, California.
Harris was elected to the Senate in 2016, and she has been an important and powerful voice for women and people of color since she began her term.