Kamala Harris Is Running!

We love her, shut up.

Kamala Harris is in! The junior US Senator from California chose the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to become the first black woman in the 2020 Democratic presidential race. The former California attorney general was also the co-recipient of Wonkette's coveted 2018 Legislative Badass of the Year (along with Rep. Pramila Jayapal), making her the second winner of that title to announce a run this year. Elizabeth Warren received the honor in 2014. It's a Major Award! Pundits who fail to note this distinction in their coverage of Harris's announcement are simply not giving you the full truth, America.

Here's Harris's announcement interview on ABC's "Good Morning America":

Harris was very pleased to point out the timing of her announcement on MLK Day:

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. So today, the day we celebrate Dr. King, is a very special day for all of us as Americans and I'm honored to be able to make my announcement on the day we commemorate him.

Harris also released this video on the Twitters and the YouTubes; campaign aides said the campaign logo's orange/yellow color scheme was a conscious tribute to the 1972 campaign run of former Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for the presidency. Harris's slogan, "For the People," plays off both the Gettysburg Address and the official role of a prosecutor in court, what with the whole former AG thing.

And at the risk of Dok being a useless old boomer, darned if that smiley little girl doesn't just grab us right in the Hillary-n-girls feels, too!

this. is. perfect. http: //t.co/TF4qBhAiiW http://t.co/24sOuJoukb

— Krystie Lee Yandoli (@Krystie Lee Yandoli) 1413311620.0 

Now that she's announced, Harris will kick off her campaign with a big event in Oakland Sunday, and we expect her to give everyone a pony, dammit. And like many of the 2020 Dems, she's not taking corporate PAC money.

Yr Wonkette is already an official Kamala 2020 Fanblog, and we've liked her ever since she was attorney general of California, kicking the asses of scammy for-profit colleges. In the two years she's been in the Senate -- hey, that's how long that Barry guy with the big ears was a senator before he ran -- Harris has gotten behind some impressive progressive positions, setting herself squarely against the asshole-in-chief. She advocated for the end of cash bail in California, and then introduced a bill to end it on the federal level. She's introduced legislation to address racial disparities in rates of maternal deaths and even has this crazy idea that since tax policy has created enormous wealth disparities, it's damn well time to use the tax code to help someone other than the already rich, 

Harris was a star during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, calling out Kavanaugh's bullshit pretense that he won't vote to overturn Roeand reminding Kavanaugh to  consider very carefully  whether he'd ever talked about the Russia investigation with anyone at Trump's lawyer's law firm. And let us never forget that time in 2017 when Harris reduced Jeff Sessions to a blubbering puddle of butterscotch goo because GOLDURN LADIES TALK TOO FAST I'M CONFUSED.

Jeff Sessions, under questioning from @SenKamalaHarris: "I'm not able to be rushed this fast, it makes me nervous."… https://t.co/9WVU4OOGd4

— Evan McMurry (@Evan McMurry) 1497386813.0 

A few lefty purity ponies think Harris's time as a prosecutor excludes her from consideration because she was "cop" and all cops bad, to which we say GTFO because for chrissake, she was not your usual "lock people up forever" prosecutor and please get over yourselves:

If Kamala Harris is "a cop", I wish more cops thought like she does. This was @KamalaHarris in 2006. https: //t.co/ld6desnZK0

— Matt Rogers 🦅 (@Matt Rogers 🦅) 1548079531.0 

We are even willing to overlook her use of "recidivate" as a verb, because like Harris, we believe people can grow and change.

Also in the not your usual cop column, Harris wants to replace ICE with something saner and more just-er, and that gave her a chance to push back against the White House's Fear Agenda:

As a career prosecutor, I actually went after gangs and transnational criminal organizations. That's being a leader… https: //t.co/A1TZTryFQj

— Kamala Harris (@Kamala Harris) 1530566280.0 

Harris joins a growing 2020 Democratic field that has all sorts of terrific peoplein it, and we won't be surprised if some of them are actually gone before the early caucuses/primaries. Like, Julián Castro, you're lovely and progressive, but nah dude, Secretaries of Housing only become president in scenarios where DC is nuked during the State of the Union address. Don't worry, we'll still love you, and Harris will almost certainly not be stealing your "Brainpower is the new currency of success" thing, 'kay?

[ ABC News / Politico / Buzzfeed / Kamala Harris.org ]

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