Sen. Kamala Harris announces 2020 presidential bid

The California senator — the first African-American to formally enter the 2020 fray — made the announcement on morning television on MLK Day.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced on Monday that she will run for president in 2020, becoming the third senator since December to enter what is likely to be a crowded Democratic primary field.

“I am running for president,” Harris, the first African-American to formally enter the 2020 fray, said on an early-morning Martin Luther King Jr. Day interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“This is a moment in time where I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight for the best of who we are,” she said. If elected, Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, would be the first woman president and the first woman of Asian or African American heritage to hold the White House. The Harris campaign noted that her announcement not only coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but also fell on the same week 47 years ago that Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman to launch a bid for a major-party presidential nomination. Although the timing of Harris’s announcement was intended to underscore the historic elements of her candidacy, she brushed off questions about her background at a Monday afternoon press conference, responding that she chose to identify as “a proud American.” Harris also tweeted an announcement video on Monday and launched a campaign website that teased a slogan, “Kamala Harris For The People,” a nod to her career as a prosecutor. Additionally, she invited supporters to attend an official announcement event in her hometown of Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 27. “Truth, justice, decency, equality, freedom, democracy: these aren’t just words, they’re the values we as American cherish. And they’re all on the line now,” Harris said in her announcement video. “Let’s claim our future.” A campaign spokesperson said that within 30 minutes of her announcement, Harris had received donations from individuals in all 50 states. Read more Read also: Islamic State group targets US convoy in northeastern Syria