By Kamala Harris

Originally published on June 28, 2019 in The Urban Voice.

Every moment I spend with Nevadans seems to further burnish their ‘Battle Born’ credentials – and my most recent trip to the state was certainly no exception.

I spoke with young immigrants, who refuse to be intimidated by President Trump’s hateful rhetoric, about how I’ll keep families together and create a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. I marched with employees from McDonald’s – where I once worked myself – to support their fight for fair wages and workers’ rights. I had the opportunity to thank tireless Nevada teachers who desperately deserve the $15,000 raise they’d get under my plan. And I was inspired to see the incredible diversity of the crowd who joined my organizing rally at Doolittle Community Center, ready to roll up their sleeves and fight alongside me for a brighter future.

I like to think of myself as battle-born too. If you ever met my mother, you’d understand I never had much of a choice. From the time I was a little girl, any time I’d come to her with a problem, she would immediately ask me, “Well what are you gonna do about it?”

My mother was all of five feet tall, but her presence was towering. She was a fighter, too, both as a civil rights activist and as a breast cancer patient. Suffice it to say, when she told you to stop complaining about adversity and do something about it, she meant it.

Her voice, and that signature question, never left me even after she passed away. I saw injustice in the world around me, and I knew I had to fight it. So I did. I eventually became a district attorney, attorney general, and the second Black woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

But that same night that I won my Senate seat, Donald Trump won the presidency, vowing to “Make America Great Again.” Since then, it’s become clear just how far back he wants to take us. We’ve seen his administration fight to reverse decades of progress, equate white supremacists with civil rights marchers, rip children from the arms of their parents at the border, and work to rip health care away from thousands of Nevadans.

Now, I refuse to let him keep dragging us backward. So once again hearing my mother’s voice, I knew I had to do something. I’m running for president, guided by the same words I uttered decades ago when I first walked into the courtroom: “Kamala Harris, for the people.”

I’ve spent my entire life representing the people as they take on bullies, predators, and frauds. Nobody is more prepared to prosecute the case against Donald Trump, and make the case for a better America than I am.

I will fight for an America where we lift people up instead of beating them down. An America where voting rights, civil rights, women’s rights and immigrant rights are protected and respected. An America where it only takes one job to pay the bills and keep a roof over your head.

My first order of business will be securing a raise for working people – my plan would give a tax credit of up to $6,000 to Nevada families each year. We’ll strengthen Nevada’s unions, and hold corporations accountable for finally paying Nevada women equally to men. We’ll make sure that health care is a universal right, not a privilege. And we will beat back attempts to reopen Yucca Mountain, because Nevadans deserve to determine what happens in their state.

This campaign is of the people, by the people, and for the people. It’s a campaign that is made stronger every time I come to Nevada and hear your stories, so you can bet I’ll be back plenty in the coming months. And this is a campaign that I fully intend to win.

It won’t be easy, I know that. But nothing worth fighting for ever is. The best things in this country have always been battle-born. With your help, we can defy the odds once more. Together, we will drive Nevada, and America, forward.

For additional information about Senator Kamala Harris, please visit http://kamalaharris.com.