Danielle Allen, a Harvard University scholar and Democrat, announced Monday she is considering a run for Massachusetts governor in 2022.
The 49-year-old announced in a YouTube video she would spend the next few months introducing herself to voters before deciding whether to throw her hat into the ring.
"My name is Danielle Allen, and I'm exploring a run for governor, because it's time for us to lay a new and equitable foundation for our life together in this commonwealth," she said in the video.
"Toni Morrison once said if you're free, you free others. If you have power, you empower others, and those words really embody the soul of my family," Allen added.
Allen would be the first Black woman to run for Massachusetts governor as part of a major party, according to the Boston Globe.
Incumbent Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, has yet to say whether he will seek a third term.
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In the two-minute video, Allen addresses the issues of food insecurity, inequities in schools and climate change. She spoke about growing up as part of a large extended family, and when talking about mass incarceration, referenced a cousin who was arrested at 15 years old and died in 2009.
Allen is a professor in Harvard's Department of Government. Her biography states that she is known for her work on justice and citizenship both in ancient Athens and modern America. After joining the Harvard faculty in 2016, she was selected as a university professor just a year-and-a-half later. She holds a Ph.D. from both Harvard and the University of Cambridge.
