The first Indian-origin Senator, Kamala Harris, officially launched her campaign for the US presidential election in 2020 to take on President Donald Trump, saying she was “honoured” to announce her bid on a day when Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr who sought inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi.

A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 32nd Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017, and as District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010. On January 21, 2019, Harris officially announced her campaign to run for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election.

Born in Oakland, California, Harris is a graduate of Howard University and University of California, Hastings College of the Law. In the 1990s, Harris worked in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the City Attorney of San Francisco’s office. In 2004, Harris was elected District Attorney of San Francisco.

Harris has supported Medicare for all, legalization of recreational marijuana, sanctuary cities, passing a DREAM Act, lowering taxes for the working- and middle-class while raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and has disavowed most corporate donations.

A rising party star and vocal critic of President Trump, Harris, 54, is the fourth Democrat to join the battle for the party’s nomination in the 2020 election.

“I am running for president,” Harris said in a tweet along with a simultaneously released video message.

“Kamala Harris: For the People” is the theme of her campaign.

If elected, she would be the first woman and woman of colour to be the president of the United States.

“I love my country. This is a moment in time that I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight for the best of who we are,” she told the ABC News.

Explaining the significance of announcing her presidential bid on Martin Luther King Jr Day, Harris said the icon of American civil rights movement, who sought inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi, has always inspired her.

“The thing about Dr King that always inspires me is that he was aspirational. He was aspirational like our country is aspirational. We know that we’ve not yet reached those ideals. But our strength is that we fight to reach those ideals,” she said.