Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) continues to fuel speculation about her presidential ambitions for 2020, raising money last weekend with Barack Obama bundler Michael Kempner in the Hamptons in New York last weekend.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
Harris’ appearance at the Hamptons event comes as rumors swirl that she is pondering a 2020 presidential run. Harris and her team have tamped down on talk of her future, arguing that she is focused on her new Senate job that she was elected to in November.
But notable events in recent months, including her speech at the women’s march on the day following President Trump’s inauguration in January and repeated interruptions by male colleagues during Senate hearings earlier this year, have thrust Harris into the spotlight.
And the former California attorney general’s visit with Kempner is sure to add fuel to such speculation. Kempner has been a top fundraiser for Obama, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, Senate and congressional candidates, and state parties and politicians across the country.
Harris’s fundraising trip to the Hamptons has been widely reported, with one fundraiser telling The Hill: “She’s running for president. Take it to the bank.”
Though Harris’s political base in California is principally in the Bay Area and other liberal enclaves, she has been making a recent effort to reach out to the rural communities of the Central Valley, perhaps with the 2020 Iowa caucuses in mind.
Barack Obama relied on his rapport with rural communities in Illinois, and later in Iowa, to create the political momentum that eventually saw him upset Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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