Could Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., be generating more early buzz than former President Barack Obama did more than 10 years ago?
If attendance is any indicator, the answer could be yes.
The California senator officially entered the 2020 fray on Sunday with a speech outside Oakland City Hall. Ian Sams, Harris’ press secretary, tweeted that more than 20,000 people showed up to see the event.
“NEWS: More than 20,000 in crowd at @KamalaHarris launch speech. Thousands more still in lines for overflow,” Sams tweeted Sunday.
NEWS: More than 20,000 in crowd at @KamalaHarris launch speech. Thousands more still in lines for overflow.
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) January 27, 2019
Compare that to February 2007, when then-Illinois Sen. Obama announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in Springfield, Ill. Braving freezing-cold conditions outside the Old State Capitol, somewhere between 15,000 and 17,000 people showed up for his speech officially marking the beginning of his campaign. Furthermore, the East Bay Times reports that when Obama held a campaign event in Oakland a month later, he drew between 12,000 and 14,000 people in the exact same spot.
Obama went on to best Hillary Clinton in her first bid for the Democratic nomination before beating Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the 2008 general election.
Politico’s Christopher Cadelago reported that Harris’ campaign received RSVPs for the rally in Oakland from all 50 states.
.@KamalaHarris’ campaign received RSVPs from all 50 states for today’s rally in Oakland — including many, apparently, who are on this flight out of town.
— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) January 28, 2019
In her speech Sunday, Harris not only condemned President Trump, but also called for a return to civility and tracking down the soul of the “American dream.”
The City Hall rooftop view for the @KamalaHarris for President campaign kickoff rally in Oakland, CA, (1/27/19). pic.twitter.com/uNJdJ6hGkK
— Michael J. Hunt (@MJH510) January 27, 2019
“We are here because the American dream and our American democracy are under attack and on the line like never before. And we are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question: Who are we, who are we as Americans?” she said. “So, let’s answer that question to the world. To each other. Right here. Right now. America, we are better than this.”
Harris, a former attorney general of California who like Obama is African-American and is running for president as a first-term senator, often has been compared to the 44th president. She has even been dubbed the “female Barack Obama.”
Also like Obama, she has already been subject to conspiracy theories about her eligibility to become president.
[Read more: CNN’s Chris Cuomo says he ‘screwed up’ with tweet on Kamala Harris birther conspiracy]
