It was an all-in game.
In an historic moment for the Democratic party, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, taking her first big step toward a presidential bid, called on the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus to swear her in to the Senate.
“All three caucuses came in and swore me in,” said Harris in a video on Facebook. “To be the first woman, the first person of color, and the first Asian American or Pacific Islander to take this position. It is an extraordinary honor.”
These three caucuses came in and swore me in. To be the first woman, the first person of color, and the first Asian American or Pacific Islander to take this position. It is an extraordinary honor. Posted by Kamala Harris on Sunday, July 22, 2018
In the video, which was recorded in the middle of the night – the Senate was adjourned and she had just logged off of her computer and was crawling back in bed – Harris gave a speech explaining her position in the Senate as a member of the caucus. Then, she joked, there were “so many cool things you can do” as an active member. She also thanked “my colleagues in the Democratic Party, my colleagues across the aisle, those that I have worked with, those that I have not worked with, who have admiring for me,” and “my friends that I now have a greater power to help.”
She said, “I’m going to make sure that our values, that the civil rights of the people in this country, will continue to be at the forefront.”
Harris’s colleagues in the Senate stood up and gave her a standing ovation, she said. “They might not vote for me as the nominee, but they’re going to vote for me,” she joked.
In the video, Harris also thanked the two years of hard work she has put into the Senate and the campaigns in California, where she is now running for her third term in the Senate. She also said that, “to have the opportunity for me to grow up in this country, the family that gave me the gift of faith, that gave me the gift of family, that taught me the fundamental American values of equality and opportunity, I love it.”
The video came as one of the party’s other potential 2020 candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, did meet with Harris on Sunday, making her the first candidate to meet with him. And as of this weekend, Harris had not met with President Donald Trump.