On ABC, Harris highlighted her experience as a prosecutor said picking between law enforcement and justice is a false choice.

"We have a system of justice that has included systemic racism," she said. "We have a system of justice where a mother and father have to sit their child down, their son down, when he becomes a teenager, and tell him that he may be stopped, he may be arrested, and he could be shot based on the color of his skin."

“The question becomes: what is her economic populist plan and how does that pass the smell test for progressives?” said Symone Sanders, a former spokeswoman for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign. The Vermont senator won over liberals who oppose free-trade deals, favor a larger safety net, and want to crack down on Wall Street.

Waleed Shahid, a spokesman for the left-wing activist group Justice Democrats and a Sanders delegate in 2016, said Harris is “a blank slate” to many voters.

“Right now she hasn’t proven herself to be a class warrior pushing for solutions as big as the scale of our problems,” Shahid said. “It‘s also likely that her record on criminal justice and banking reform as California AG will continue to plague her if she doesn’t adopt a more aggressive message and propose big progressive solutions.”

Asked on ABC to respond to concerns that she may have a lack of experience for the job, Harris said: "I have the unique experience of having been a leader at the local government, state government and federal government."

Harris may also have California rivals to fend off in Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Representative Eric Swalwell, whose district is in the Bay Area, both of whom are considering 2020 runs. And some of her California colleagues may support one of her out-of-state rivals.

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“I’ve been clear that I would support Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, but I do think she should run,” said Representative Ro Khanna, a fellow Indian-American who represents a district just south of Oakland, where Harris was born.

The Democratic congressman said Harris is “formidable” and “not to be dismissed,” but that Warren and Sanders are “two extraordinary progressive icons, and barring something unforeseen I’m likely to support one of them.”

Harris doesn’t shy away from the term “identity politics,” which she’s described as a cudgel used to marginalize issues like civil rights and immigrant rights. While Trump and his coalition of largely white, often older voters represent a shrinking share of the population, Harris’s hopes in a general election would require stitching together a younger, diverse and more female coalition that’s ascendant in the U.S. but votes less reliably.