Sources have told KCBS radio that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) will run for president in 2020.
They said she plans to announce her intentions “on or around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, probably at a campaign rally in Oakland.”
From KCBS Radio:
Harris, 54, has been making the rounds of television talk shows and appearing at several events this week as part of a brief tour to promote her new book, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.”At every stop, when asked about running for president, Harris has answered with some variation of “I’m not ready yet” to announce her decision, citing family considerations. But several sources knowledgeable about her plans say she is ready, and has in fact decided to run, with the enthusiastic blessing of her husband and two stepchildren.The debate within her camp is how, and where, to launch her campaign. The tentative plan is for Harris to enter the race for the Democratic presidential nomination with a campaign rally, most likely in Oakland, where she was born and began her legal career.
Darry Sragow, a Democratic strategist, recommended that Harris announce as soon as possible instead of dragging it out.
Now Harris’s team needs to figure out exactly how and where to announce. There’s a reason why they chose Oakland:
Harris’ advisors want to avoid identifying her too closely with San Francisco, where she first made her political mark as a two-term district attorney.”San Francisco is viewed as a very nutty place by people outside of California, and frankly, by a lot of people inside California,” Sragow said.Berkeley, where Harris was raised before her parents divorced and she moved with her mother and sister to Montreal, Canada, has also been dismissed by her strategists as not projecting the image they’re looking for. That leaves Oakland, where Harris was born, and where she returned after law school to become a deputy district attorney for Alameda County.”I’m not sure what Oakland’s image is around the country these days,” said Sragow, but the city, one of the nation’s most diverse, is seen as on the rise. Launching her national campaign there would let Harris emphasize her roots and identify with the hardscrabble city’s gritty energy, creativity and even the Golden State Warriors, who’ve won three NBA championships since 2015.
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