Confirming what had been speculated for months, senator Kamala Harris will enter the Democratic presidential race for 2020. “I am running for president of the United States,” Harris said today on Good Morning America, “and I’m very excited about it.” 

Harris is currently a first-term senator of California and formerly the state's attorney general, while recently having become one of the most prominent names of the Democratic party due to her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump’s nominees over the last few years.

In a video that was simultaneously released with her announcement, Harris portrays herself as a fighter for justice, decency, and equality, suggesting those to be the "values we as Americans cherish, and they’re all on the line now. The future of our country depends on you and millions of others lifting our voices to fight for our American values.”

For the Democratic nomination, Harris is expected to face competition from senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, in addition to potential campaigns from Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Corey Booker of New Jersey.

If elected, the Oakland native (with parents from Jamaica and India) will be the first woman and the second African-American to hold the office of the presidency, while it should be noted that Harris made the announcement on a day that the nation is observing what would have been the 90th birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.

Source: AssociatedPress