California Senator Kamala Harris rolled into Iowa on Monday to stump for Democratic candidates in the final days before the midterm elections and, many suspect, test the waters for a run at the presidency in 2020.
The Iowa caucuses will be the first to take place in the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential primary schedule. Harris has yet to announce whether she intends to seek the party's nomination, but she is widely expected to do so, and her trip to Iowa signals a potential run.
"We have got to this moment, with this momentum, because of the work that each of you have put into fighting for the best of who we are as a country. And that's what's at stake. Fighting for the best of who we are," Harris told local Democrats at a rally in Des Moines.
"I've been talking with folks all day and, you know, this is how I think about this moment. This is an inflection moment in the history of our country. This is an inflection moment. This is a pivotal moment.
"I think of this as being a moment in time similar to the moment in time my parents met when they were graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960s and active in the civil rights movement. This is a similar moment in time.
"This is a time that is requiring each of us individually and all of us collectively to look in the mirror and ask this question: Who are we? And I believe, Polk County Democrats, I believe part of the answer to that question—we are better than this."
Harris, 54, was born in Oakland, California, to a Tamil Indian mother and a Jamaican father. She was a career prosecutor and was twice elected as district attorney of San Francisco. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, becoming only the second African-American woman to make the achievement.
On Thursday, Harris unveiled a tax plan to "provide middle class and working families with a tax credit of up to $6,000 a year—or up to $500 a month—to help address the rising cost of living," according to her Facebook page.
"Everywhere I go, people tell me that one unexpected expense could throw their family into financial turmoil. Americans are working harder than ever, but wages are staying flat," Harris wrote.
"It's also absolutely unconscionable that while many families continue to struggle, President Trump and Republicans in Congress are giving tax cuts to the top 1% and corporations while threatening Social Security and Medicare. We need to change that."
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS in early October found Harris to be the third favorite in the list of potential Democratic primary candidates for 2020, though she was a long way behind the leader of the pack.
Joe Biden, the former Delaware senator and President Barack Obama's vice president, came out on top at 33 percent of the vote. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a socialist, was second at 13 percent. And Harris came in third at 9 percent, just ahead of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren at 8 percent.
