Chelsea Manning said Friday that she is running for Senate to challenge “establishment” politics and inspire “radical change” in social issues.

Manning, the former soldier and transgender activist who served seven years in prison for releasing confidential documents before President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaDemocratic Senate campaign arm outraises GOP by M in August A federal court may have declared immigration arrests unconstitutional Blunt says vote on Trump court nominee different than 2016 because White House, Senate in 'political agreement' MORE commuted her 35-year sentence, filed earlier this month to run as a Democrat against Maryland’s senior senator, Ben Cardin Benjamin (Ben) Louis CardinPPP application window closes after coronavirus talks deadlock Congress eyes tighter restrictions on next round of small business help Senate passes extension of application deadline for PPP small-business loans MORE (D).

“The establishment needs to be challenged, and it needs to be challenged in their footholds and in the places where they feel safe,” Manning told The Washington Post in an interview published Monday.

Manning told the Post that since a conservative blog tweeted news of her filing to run, she has received at least 1,000 individual donations to her campaign.

“We need to stop expecting that our systems will somehow fix themselves, we need to actually take the reins of power from them,” Manning says in the first ad for her campaign.

In her interview with the Post, Manning discussed several issues that are likely to take center stage in her campaign, including reforms to health care, the criminal justice system and education.

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She called for the closing of prisons and release of prisoners as part of a criminal justice “restructuring” and pointed to the country’s defense budget as a possible area to cut in order to pay for “no questions asked” universal health care.

"We’re spending almost $600 billion a year on weapons of war,” she told the newspaper.

Manning also spoke about her reputation as a “traitor” after becoming one of the country’s most famous whistleblowers, saying that she has no regrets and that her intelligence experience would be beneficial to the Senate.

“In a society where people can call Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Democratic super PAC to hit Trump in battleground states over coronavirus deaths Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight MORE, James B. Comey — anybody that you disagree with politically becomes a traitor, then we can’t have a debate,” she told the Post. “Given the circumstances that I was in and everything that I knew at the time, I did what I felt was the right decision to make. I can’t go back and change that.”