Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., formally launched her run for the Democratic presidential nomination Sunday with a full-fledged embrace of big government programs, including "Medicare for All" and universal pre-kindergarten education -- and taking multiple shots at President Trump's policies.
"I'm running to fight for an America where the economy works for working people," Harris told a cheering crowd outside City Hall in her hometown of Oakland. " ... I am running to declare, once and for all, that health care is a fundamental right, and to deliver that right with 'Medicare for All.' To declare education is a fundamental right, and we will guarantee that right with universal pre-K and debt-free college."
Harris slammed President Trump's planned border wall as "a medieval vanity project" and criticized the administration for its hardline immigration policy.
"When we have children in cages, crying for their mothers and fathers, don't you dare call that border security, that's human rights abuse," Harris said.
"We are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question," Harris said. "Who are we? Who are we as Americans? So, let’s answer that question to the world and each other, right here and right now.
"America, we are better than this."
"People in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other," she added. "But that is not our story. That is not who we are. That’s not our America. You see, our United States of America is not about us versus them. It’s about 'We the People.'"
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, started her political career in 2003 when she was elected San Francisco district attorney. She was voted attorney general of California seven years later and was elected to the Senate in 2016.
"My whole life, I've only had one client: the people," Harris said in an echo of her campaign slogan "For the People." She also defended her record as a prosecutor, which has come under scrutiny from some progressives.
Harris was scheduled to make her first trip to Iowa as a presidential candidate following the rally. She traveled to the leadoff caucus state in the weeks before this past November's midterm elections to campaign on behalf of Democrats. She has also visited other early-voting states, including South Carolina this past Friday.
