Kamala Harris has said she knows ‘Donald Trump’s type’ thanks to her former career as a prosecutor, in the first rally of her presidential campaign.
The US vice president travelled to swing state Wisconsin for an event planned before Joe Biden announced he would no longer be running for re-election on Sunday.
Since then, she has emerged as the clear frontrunner to take over from him as the Democratic nominee at the upcoming election.
In her speech, she outlined for the first time the approach she would take to tackling Trump – who remains the bookies’ favourite to clinch victory in November.
Harris told an ecstatic crowd: ‘Before I was elected vice president, before I was elected a United States senator, I was elected attorney general of the State of California, and I was a courtroom prosecutor before then.
‘And in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds.
‘Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.
‘So hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.’
Her speech set the scene for a campaign in which Harris will seek to draw a clear distinction between her history in law enforcement and Trump’s position as the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
Later, she added: ‘As a prosecutor, I specialised in cases involving sexual abuse. Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse.’
This morning, Harris reached the required number of delegrates to secure her spot as the Democratic nominee at the election – which is less than three and a half months away.
Earlier today, she was also endorsed by two of the most powerful Democrats in Washington: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
But some figures in her party – including former President Barack Obama – appear to still favour a competitive process to decide who will end up on the ticket.
Such a contest would help combat criticisms that Harris is simply the successor designated by political elites – though it’s highly unlikely anyone else could beat her current momentum.
Instead, debate is largely centring around who she might pick as her vice president.
The top candidates are mainly white men, likely a tactical move to broaden the appeal of Harris, who would be the first female president, the first Black woman president and first president of South Asian descent.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly are reportedly leading the pack at the moment, but Harris may wait until closer to next month’s Democratic National Convention to announce her pick.
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