Senator Kamala Harris, the California Democrat and barrier-breaking prosecutor who became the second black woman to serve in the United States Senate, declared her candidacy for president on Monday, joining an increasingly crowded and diverse field in what promises to be a wide-open nomination process.
The announcement was bathed in symbolism: Ms. Harris chose to enter the race on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, an overt nod to the historic nature of her candidacy, and her timing was also meant to evoke Shirley Chisholm, the New York congresswoman who became the first woman to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president 47 years ago this week.
In addition, Ms. Harris will hold her
first campaign event on Friday in South Carolina, where black voters are
the dominant force in the Democratic primary, rather than start off by
visiting Iowa and New Hampshire, the two predominantly white states that
hold their nomination contests first. She will hold a kickoff rally
Sunday in Oakland, Calif., her hometown.
For
the first time, the Democratic presidential race now includes several
high-profile women, with Ms. Harris joining two other prominent senators
who have announced candidacies, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii Democrat, has also said she is running, and more women could enter the race in the coming weeks.
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