Kamala Harris kicks off presidential bid in Oakland

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Sunday officially launched her bid for the presidency in 2020, kicking off her campaign with a speech touting unity and equality.

“With faith in God, with fidelity to country and with the fighting spirit I got from my mother, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States,” she said Sunday during a rally in Oakland, Calif., her hometown. 

“I’m running to fight for an America where the economy works for all people. For an America where you only have to work one job to pay the bills,” she added.

{mosads}Harris, whose campaign slogan is “Kamala Harris for the People,” added that her candidacy would be “for all people.”

“I’m running for president because I love my country. I’m running to be president of the people, by the people and for all people,” she said.

Harris, a former prosecutor, first announced last week that she intended to run during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“When I look at this moment in time, I know the American people deserve to have someone who is going to fight for them … and put them in front of self-interest,” she said during the interview on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Harris during Sunday’s rally also criticized President Trump’s administration, pointing to his immigration policies, his attacks on the press and the 2017 tax cut, which she said she would reverse as president. She declared that America is “better than this.”

“We are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question: Who are we? Who are we as Americans? So let’s answer that question, to the world, to each other, right here, right now. America, we are better than this,” she said. 

“The American Dream and our American democracy are under attack like never before,” she added.

Harris also touched on a number of other subjects she would address as president.

She called for criminal justice reform, a reduction in the gender pay gap and a middle-class tax cut.

She also voiced her support for “Medicare for all,” universal pre-K and debt-free college. She said she would work to reduce police brutality and mass shootings as well as to improve voting rights and women’s reproductive rights.

She also said she is “not perfect” but pledged to “lead with integrity” and “speak the truth.”

“As we embark on this campaign, I will tell you this: I am not perfect. Lord knows I am not perfect. But I will always speak with decency and moral clarity and treat all people with dignity and respect. I will lead with integrity and I will speak the truth,” Harris said. 

The first-term senator is joining what is expected to be a crowded Democratic primary field. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have each launched presidential exploratory committees, while former Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro (D) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) have officially launched bids.

Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are among a range of other candidates also expected to join the race.

Harris said Sunday that the election would not be “an ordinary election” but added that she has “the power of the people.”

“We can achieve the dreams of our parents,” she continued. “We can heal our nation. We can give our children the future they deserve. We can reclaim the American dream for every single person in our country. And we can restore America’s moral leadership on this planet. So let’s do this.”