Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was greeted by a huge crowd Sunday in her hometown of Oakland, as she officially launched her presidential campaign.


Police estimate that 20,000 people attended the event, held a week after she announced her intention to run for president. The Guardian notes that when Barack Obama announced in 2007 that he was running for president, his kickoff drew a crowd of about 15,000 people.

A former prosecutor and state attorney general, Harris said her "whole life, I've only had one client: the people," and gave a rundown of the issues she is focusing on: Medicare for All, criminal justice reform, giving working families an income boost, and climate change. The U.S. needs to act "on science fact," she said. "Not science fiction." Harris also said American democracy is under attack "like never before," and divisions run deep. "People are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other," she said. "But that is not our story. That is not who we are." Catherine Garcia