Jan 27, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Kamala Harris officially launches 2020 bid

Kamala Harris speaks at Howard University in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. Photo: Eva Hambach/AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) officially launched her 2020 presidential bid Sunday in her hometown of Oakland, California, delivering a stern repudiation of President Trump's policies and a vow to fight for the most vulnerable Americans.

What she said: "My whole life I have only one client: the people. And fight for the people means fighting for a more fair criminal justice system. … For the people, meant fighting for middle-class families who had been defrauded by banks and lost their homes in the Great Recession."

  • Harris, who began her career as a prosecutor in Oakland and later became the state’s attorney general, used her speech to portray herself as a lifelong champion for marginalized people and someone who can unify the deeply divided country.
  • "These are not ordinary times or an ordinary election. But this is our America. ... We can restore America’s moral leadership on this planet," Harris said.
  • Harris, whose mother is Indian and father is Jamaican, would be the first woman and the first person of Asian descent to serve as president.

Watch the video of her announcement:

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Protesters and riot police clash in Minsk, Belarus, on Sunday during a demonstration against President Alexander Lukashenko's claim of a landslide victory. Photo: Misha Friedman/Getty Images)

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Why it matters: It's a precarious moment for the former Soviet republic, where decades of repression and a complete disregard for the coronavirus pandemic threaten to topple "Europe's last dictator." Rights groups said at least one protester was killed and dozens more wounded in a "police crackdown," per AP.

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Anti-government protesters in Beirut. Photo: STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Why it matters: In her resignation letter, Information Minister Manal Abdel-Samad called change "elusive" and apologized for not delivering more to the country, which had been devastated by a financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic even before the blast destroyed much of the capital city.

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 3 a.m. ET: 19,863,850 — Total deaths: 731,374 — Total recoveries — 12,117,346 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 3 a.m. ET: 5,044,864 — Total deaths: 162,938 — Total recoveries: 1,656,864 — Total tests: 61,792,571 — Map.
  3. Politics: Pelosi says states don't have the funds to comply with Trump's executive order on unemployment — Mnuchin says Trump executive orders were cleared by Justice Department.
  4. States: New York reports lowest rate of positive coronavirus test results since pandemic began
  5. Public health: Ex-FDA head: U.S. will "definitely" see 200,000 to 300,000 virus deaths by end of 2020. 
  6. Schools: 97,000 children test positive for coronavirus in two weeks — Nine test positive at Georgia school where photo showing packed hallway went viral .
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