WATCH: Kamala Harris Releases Her First TV Ad
"This election is about American families and what wakes them up in the middle of the night," Harris’ campaign announced. "My 3 a.m. agenda offers and delivers tangible benefits that improve Americans' daily lives, including Medicare for All, giving working and middle-class families an overdue raise, and guaranteeing women are paid equally."
The ad, titled "Me, Maya, and Mom," highlights some difficulties that her working mother faced during the presidential hopeful's upbringing.
"She'd work all day, then pour her whole heart into Maya and me when she got home. And then after we were fed and in bed, our mother would sit up trying to figure out how to make it all work," Harris said in the ad. "That's something most Americans know all too well, and that's what my 3 a.m. agenda is all about — a real plan to help you solve those worries."
Harris introduces what she calls her "3 a.m. Agenda," a comprehensive plan to tackle the struggles that keep Americans awake at night worrying. The plan includes a host of policy proposals including free community colleges, student debt reform, Medicare for All, rent relief, increasing teachers' salaries, enacting strict gun legislation, and giving working families an annual tax credit of up to $6,000, according to her campaign website.
The California senator further explains that she will help pay for some of her proposed programs by repealing the tax cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump and fining companies who do not compensate woman equally to men.
"That's what I'm fighting for," Harris said. "Real relief for families like yours — not in 20 years, not in 30, [but] starting my first day as president. Because you've waited long enough to get a good night's sleep."
The ad was launched during the Iowa State Fair and is scheduled to only air in the Hawkeye state. Harris' campaign told The Hill that it is part of a six-figure television and digital buy, but declined to specify the exact cost. The ad will air concurrent to Harris' five-day bus tour around the state.
"Instead of ideological or theoretical debates, Senator Harris is focused on an action plan to directly improve the lives of American families," Ian Sams, Harris' national press secretary said in a statement. "Right now, millions of Americans worry about making ends meet each month, getting health care they need, affording their rent, or whether their children will be a victim of a school shooting the next day."
"Her agenda directly addresses the issues that keep people up at night," he continued.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has been consistently polling above his Democratic challengers in Iowa, with Harris battling Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for the second place spot. Harris is edging out both Sanders and Warren by an average of one point in the Hawkeye state.
