Since the start of the 115th Congressional session, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Califonia) has been one to watch.
The former attorney general of California has refused to let anyone stop her from doing her job, despite countless interruptions of her dogged questioning during Senate Intelligence Committee hearings and brandings of her skepticism toward GOP leadership as “hysterical.”
So it’s no surprise that reports of her potential 2020 presidential bid have many progressive Democrats ecstatic.
Over the weekend, the freshman senator from California mingled with top Democratic donors and former financial supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at the Hamptons, according to the Hill.
“She comes to Congress with immense credentials—a law enforcement official with a smart approach to taking on bad actors and protecting consumers,” said Ben LaBolt, Democratic strategist and former spokesman for President Obama, to the Hill.
“And she’s already broken through as bringing a unique voice in the Senate that is both substantive and relatable—which is hard to do your freshman year.”
Reports of Harris’s possible presidential run are bolstered by an increase in speaking engagements around Washington along with a stunning fundraising record for fellow Democratic colleagues such as Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), according to Bustle.
Both of these are staples of gaining support within the Democratic Party and creating buzz around the capitol.
For me, Harris became a role model in the interim between her 2016 Senate win and the presidential inauguration, assuring her advocacy for true American values of equality on the precipice of a Trump presidency. Time and time again, she affirmed her devotion to protecting Democratic values with her relentless focus on issues such as immigrant rights, economic justice and reproductive freedom.
“If your senator supports the bill or is undecided, explain how this bill will impact you or your loved ones. Tell your story. Tell them that if they vote for people to lose their health care, they should—and will—lose their jobs. Be persistent, be passionate, and be persuasive,” Harris wrote in a piece on the need for good health care policy for Lenny Letter.
“This is not a time for courtesy. This is a time for courage.”
Harris caught national attention during a string of Senate Intelligence Committee hearings in which she ruthlessly questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on the independence of the Department of Justice amid questions of United States corroboration with Russian officials, according to CNN.
As a young woman yearning to build a career in American politics, Harris’s public impact has been immeasurable. The power of public service has never felt stronger to me than when watching Harris’s impassioned speeches on American democracy and powerful attacks on her incompetent colleagues. Surely, many other women and girls across the United States feel the same.
To celebrate Harris’s potential presidential run, here’s to women running for office. Here’s to women who are overly ambitious and refuse to shut up and let anything or anyone stand in the way of doing their best. Here’s to women who stand up to the tallest obstacles imaginable to fight for what they believe in.
May the 2018 and 2020 national races be filled with these women and opportunities for progress.
jsbourkl@indiana.edu
@jsbourkland
