WASHINGTON: California`s Indian-American Attorney General Kamala Harris, a "good friend" of President Barack Obama, has thrown her hat into the ring for the 2016 race to replace fellow Democrat veteran Barbara Boxer in the U.S. Senate.

"I will be a fighter for the next generation on the critical issues facing our country," pledged Oakland, California-born Harris, 50, the state`s first Indian-American and first African American top law officer announcing her run on her website on Tuesday.

"I will be a fighter for middle class families who are feeling the pinch of stagnant wages and diminishing opportunity," added the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican-American father.

"I will be a fighter for our children who deserve a world-class education, and for students burdened by predatory lenders and skyrocketing tuition. And I will fight relentlessly to protect our coast, our immigrant communities and our seniors," Harris said.

Harrison`s mother Dr Shyamala Gopalan is a breast cancer specialist who emigrated from Chennai in the 1960s while her father Donald Harris is an economics professor at Stanford University.

Hours after Harris announced her run, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer said he would decide soon whether to take on the follow Democrat in the November 2016 election.

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Source: IANS