(Image source from: Vox)
Two days after officially announcing 2020 United States presidential bid, Indian American Senator Kamala Harris has emerged at the top of a Daily Kos straw poll released Wednesday.
Harris, 54, has garnered 27 percent of the 28,000 votes, followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren with 18 percent, Daily Kos said on Wednesday as it released the results of its second straw poll.
Former U.S. vice president Joe Biden who has not declared his 2020 bid yet was on the third position with 13 percent and Senator Bernie Sanders fourth with 12 percent. Sanders is yet to announce his candidacy.
Indian American Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has been at the bottom of the straw poll with just one percent of the straw poll members voting for the first Hindu presidential candidate.
Harris announced her presidential bid on the Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Within the first 24 hours of her announcement, she raised $1.5 million from small donors. However, she is not accepting donations from political action committees, making a strong sign that she will not be influenced by lobbyists and special interest groups.
The campaign logo and colors are inspired by the historic campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, who, 47 years ago, became the first black person and the first woman to seek the nomination of a major party.
According to Fox News, Harris has hired a number of staff from the 2016 Clinton campaign.
Harris has announced to hold her first presidential rally in her hometown of Oakland in California on January 27.
On Wednesday, Harris slammed President Donald Trump for the ongoing partial government shutdown. “It’s completely irresponsible that this president has kept the government closed for over a month. That’s 33 days of anxiety and hurt for more than 800,000 federal workers who are trying to figure out how they are going to pay their rent or mortgage,” Harris said.
The Democratic primary race, which commences early next year is expected to be jam-packed, in which the winner would grab the party’s nomination and challenge President Donald Trump in the November 2020 presidential election.
-Sowmya Sangam
