California Sen. Kamala Harris has helped raise or donated more than $6.5 million for Democratic candidates and causes across the country this year. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images elections Kamala Harris to make first South Carolina trip ahead of 2020

Sen. Kamala Harris will travel to South Carolina next week, campaigning for the first time in the early primary state as she edges closer to a presidential run.

Harris, a California Democrat first elected in 2016, will stump for South Carolina Democrats in Columbia and Greenville, according to an adviser, with a likely fundraiser and public events for the state party and candidates.


The first Southern state to vote, South Carolina has become especially significant to Harris and other Democrats in the run-up to 2020. Barack Obama relied on South Carolina to help cement his credentials with black voters in 2008, and Hillary Clinton did the same in 2016. Black voters constitute a large proportion of Democratic voters in a flood of states following South Carolina on the 2020 calendar.

The trip will mark Harris’ first visit to an early primary state other than Nevada this year. She is expected to appear in Iowa later this month. And in a nod to her home state — and the significance of an earlier California primary in 2020 — she will likely campaign in California immediately before Election Day.

Harris, who appeared in Ohio over the weekend, has helped raise or donated more than $6.5 million for Democratic candidates and causes across the country this year.

She said in Ohio that she will “seriously take a look at” 2020 after the November elections, while downplaying her decision to remain out of Iowa until just before the election.

"I haven't been thinking of it that way," Harris said, when asked whether her campaign schedule could put her behind prospective 2020 candidates who have already spent time in Iowa.

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In South Carolina, Harris will find well-trodden ground. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has cultivated extensive ties in South Carolina, is expected to travel to the state before the November elections. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has raised money for the state party, while Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Maryland Rep. John Delaney have all traveled to South Carolina this cycle.