Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris says she’s the kind of leader who can unify the country and would fight for the needs of all Americans.

The first-term California senator, who announced her candidacy on Monday, planned a speech at a rally in Oakland, her hometown, later Sunday, as she outlines her campaign and introduces herself to the nation.

The appearance at a plaza outside City hall was intended to portray her candidacy as the latest chapter in a lifetime of advocating for all people and to promote a message of unity. She began her career as a prosecutor in Oakland and later became California’s attorney general.

“My whole life, I’ve only had one client: The people,” Harris says in her prepared remarks, echoing the words she has used in courtrooms and has adopted as her campaign’s slogan.

She entered the race on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Campaign aides say she has drawn inspiration from Shirley Chisholm, who in 1972 became the first black woman to run for president from a major party.

Her first news conference as a candidate was on the campus of Howard University, the historically black college in the nation’s capital that she attended as an undergraduate. On Friday, she was in South Carolina to speak to members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, of which she is a member.

Harris’ campaign is expected to highlight her career as a prosecutor as part of her rationale for seeking the presidency. Harris was the first black woman elected district attorney in California, as well as the first woman, first African-American and first Asian-American to hold that job. Some of her tenure as attorney general, particularly relating to criminal justice, has come under early scrutiny.

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York have announced exploratory committees. Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Julian Castro, federal housing chief under President Barack Obama and a former San Antonio mayor, already are in the race.In her Oakland speech, Harris says she sees this year as an “inflection point” in American history and that she is best positioned to unite a divided country.