Kamala Harris names central figures to her presidential campaign team

Preparing for a long campaign, the California senator is beginning to name key players she wants on her team while the 2020 political season takes shape

Kia Morgan-Smith

Jan 29, 2019

Sen. Kamala Harris, high-stepped her way into Iowa and made her presence known in a town hall meeting Monday night as an official presidential candidate, CNN reports.

Harris’ campaign also picked up a central team member after she named Deidre DeJear to a pivotal role as her campaign chair.

DeJear was a well sought-after asset that Harris pursued after she lost the race to become Iowa’s Secretary of State last November.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren was eyeing DeJear too, who appeared onstage alongside her when the Massachusetts lawmaker and potential presidential hopeful made a recent campaign stop in Ankeny, Iowa. Harris also reportedly plans to name Will Dubbs to be her lead organizer for the Iowa Caucuses, which kick off in February 2020.

Harris, standing outside of Oakland’s city hall earlier this week, formally kicked off her campaign for the White House by presenting herself as the leader who can best unite an America that is at an “inflection point” and facing a critical question.

“We are here because the American Dream and our American democracy are under attack and on the line like never before,” Harris said Sunday. “And we are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question: Who are we? Who are we as Americans? So, let’s answer that question to the world and each other right here and right now. America, we are better than this.”

A first-term U.S. senator from California, Harris announced her candidacy last Monday, rallied thousands of supporters at the Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, her hometown and where she served as a prosecutor before becoming the state attorney general.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.