Kamala Harris just picked up a major 2020 endorsement, and it’s a big deal

| 8:59 pm EST January 28, 2019
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With so many candidates having already entered the 2020 Democratic primary race for president, and so many more candidates reportedly considering running, one might expect the major players to hold off from endorsing anyone until the field becomes more clear and/or the herd begins to thin. But for Kamala Harris, that just changed in a big way.

Over the past two years, Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu has been a tour de force against Donald Trump and his corrupt regime. It’s gained Lieu a large following and therefore quite a bit of influence. Lieu also sits on the House Judiciary Committee, where he’ll play a role in the early stages of the impeachment process against Trump. So it’s a big deal that Ted Lieu just endorsed Kamala Harris.

In past years we’ve seen plenty of instances where a prominent member of Congress endorsed a certain presidential candidate early on, only to end up having to endorse someone else after that candidate drops out. But while Ted Lieu does tend to be aggressive, he still chooses his words carefully, and he doesn’t tend to jump the gun. Here’s how he explained the endorsement: “Known Kamala for many years & worked together on various issues. She embraces the future, not the past, and is the person we need to move America forward.”

In a 2020 Democratic primary field that could end up having twenty candidates in it, it’s easy to think of each of them as having a roughly five percent chance of winning the nomination. But based on the public reaction (or in some cases lack of a public reaction) to the various campaign launches over the past month, it’s become clear to Palmer Report that Kamala Harris is the de facto frontrunner for now, or perhaps the co-frontrunner with Elizabeth Warren, though Joe Biden could possibly change this if he runs. These are not endorsements on our part; they’re just the odds as we see them.

It’s clear that Ted Lieu believes Kamala Harris has a good chance of ending up being the nominee, or he wouldn’t be sticking his neck out this far this early. We’ll see if this prompts other members of Congress to promptly begin endorsing candidates as well, and which candidate might end up scoring the most early endorsements. But for now, Lieu’s early endorsement of Harris is not to be taken lightly.