(Image source from: Time Magazine)
The first India-origin United States Senator Kamala Harris, who also know as the "female Obama", is considering to run for the White House in 2020, according to media reports.
The news came days after Harris demonstrated a strong showing by the Democratic party in the recent mid-term elections.
The 54-year-old Harris, a first time Senator from California, made her first trip to Iowa about a month ago, which were supposed as the preparation for her potential presidential run by media analysts.
Related content: Tulsi Gabbard Likely to Run for U.S. Presidency in 2020: Sources
Born to Indian mother and a Jamaican-American father in Oakland, California, Harris migrated to the U.S. from Chennai in 1960.
Her mother Shyamala Gopalan studied science, specifically endocrinology and complex mechanisms of cancer. Her father Donald Harris grew up in Jamaica, where he turned out to be a national scholar and attained the opportunity to study economics in the U.S.
The 2020 presidential cycle would start on February 3, 2020, in Iowa, where the first primary is scheduled to be held.
Media reports indicated that Harris' multiple stops in Iowa indicated an Obama-like energy in her meetings.
"I haven't seen that kind of energy since Barack Obama," Sean Bagniewski, the chair of the Polk County Democrats, told Lake County Record-Bee after Harris addressed several hundred people at a downtown Des Moines ballroom in Iowa earlier this month.
Harris has not proclaimed her presidential bid yet.
In multiple media interviews, she has neither denied nor confirmed reports of her running for the White House in 2020.
During the Obama era, she was popularly called as the "female Obama". A decade ago, journalist Gwen Ifill called Harris "the female Barack Obama" on the "Late Show With David Letterman". Later, a small businessman from Willoughby Tony Pinto called her "a young, female version of the president".
She is considered to be close to Obama, the first black American President, who endorsed her in her various elections including that of the U.S. Senate in 2016.
Harris said her visit to Iowa was to campaign for the party during mid-term elections. After a gap of eight years, the Democratic party wrested from the Republicans the majority in the House of Representatives.
In the past two years, she has emerged as the star performer of the party in the Senate and a leading Democratic voice against the U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to an online poll carried out by Axios, Harris would beat Trump most handily - by a 10-point margin - if the election were held now.
She polls well with African-American and white suburban women, but not with "Never Hillary" independent registered voters, Axios said in its report last week.
Harris is among the two-dozen potential Democratic leaders who are eyeing the U.S. presidency in 2020. However, none of them have made a formal announcement yet.
Prominent among them include 2016 presidential candidates Senator Bernie Sanders and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton; and former U.S. vice president Joe Biden.
Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu lawmaker from Hawaii in the U.S. Congress, is also considering to run for the presidency, according to sources close to her.
Several Democratic Senators in the potential race include Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeff Merkley, Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar, and Richard Blumenthal.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee are said to be in the race to take on President Trump in his re-election bid.
Former first lady Michelle Obama has ruled out entering the electoral fray.
In the recently concluded important midterm elections, opposition Democrats captured the House of Representatives while Trump's Republican Party maintained its majority in the Senate, a result likely to intensify the political bitterness and fighting between the two major parties in the run-up to the 2020 presidential poll.
-Sowmya Sangam
