**Kamala Devi Harris** (pronounced /ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/; born
October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has been the 49th
and current Vice President of the United States since 2021, serving under
President Joe Biden. Harris is the Democratic Party's nominee for president in
the 2024 election. She is the first woman, the first African American, and the
first Asian American to hold the vice presidency, reflecting her Afro-Jamaican
and Indian American heritage. As the highest-ranking female official in U.S.
history, she has broken significant barriers.
Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard
University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She
began her legal career in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, later
joining the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and the office of the City
Attorney of San Francisco. Elected District Attorney of San Francisco in 2003
and Attorney General of California in 2010, she was reelected in 2014, becoming
the first woman, African American, and Asian American in each role.
From 2017 to 2021, Harris served as the junior U.S. Senator
from California, winning the 2016 Senate election and becoming the second Black
woman and first South Asian American senator. During her time in the Senate,
she advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal cannabis
legalization, and reforms in healthcare and taxation. Harris gained national
prominence for her incisive questioning of Trump administration officials
during Senate hearings, notably during the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
Harris initially sought the 2020 Democratic presidential
nomination but withdrew before the primaries. She was then selected by Biden as
his running mate, and their ticket won against incumbent President Donald Trump
and Vice President Mike Pence in the 2020 election. As Vice President, she has
played a pivotal role in an evenly split Senate, casting more tie-breaking
votes than any previous vice president, which helped advance key legislation
like the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of
2022. Following Biden's decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race,
Harris launched her campaign with his endorsement and became the presumptive
nominee, choosing Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate on
August 6, 2024.
### Early Life and Career
Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California, on
October 20, 1964. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a biologist from India, arrived
in the U.S. in 1958 to pursue graduate studies in endocrinology at the
University of California, Berkeley. Over a career spanning more than 40 years,
her research contributed significantly to advancements in breast cancer.
Harris's father, Donald J. Harris, an Afro-Jamaican, came to the U.S. in 1961,
also enrolling at UC Berkeley, where he specialized in development economics
and became the first Black scholar to gain tenure in Stanford University's
economics department.
The Harris family lived in Berkeley until 1966, shortly
after Kamala's second birthday, when they moved to various college towns in the
Midwest due to her parents' academic positions. However, by 1970, their
marriage had deteriorated, and Shyamala returned to California with her two
daughters; they divorced when Kamala was seven. Following her parents' separation,
Kamala and her sister spent weekends with their father in Palo Alto while
living with their mother during the week. Shyamala surrounded her daughters
with a network of African-American intellectuals and activists.
In 1976, Shyamala took a research position at McGill
University, moving the family to Montreal, Quebec, where Kamala graduated from
Westmount High School in 1981. She attended Vanier College in Montreal for a
year before transferring to Howard University, a historically Black university in
Washington, D.C. At Howard, she became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, one of
the "Divine Nine" sororities, and graduated in 1986 with a degree in
political science and economics. She then earned her Juris Doctor from the
University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1989, serving as
president of the Black Law Students Association.
#### Early Career
Harris began her legal career in 1990 as a deputy district
attorney in Alameda County, where she quickly established a reputation as a
capable prosecutor. In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown
appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to
the California Medical Assistance Commission. In 1998, San Francisco District
Attorney Terence Hallinan recruited her as an assistant district attorney,
where she became chief of the Career Criminal Division, focusing on serious
criminal cases.
In August 2000, Harris moved to San Francisco City Hall to
work under City Attorney Louise Renne, managing the Family and Children's
Services Division and representing child abuse and neglect cases. Renne later
endorsed Harris in her campaign for District Attorney.
### San Francisco District Attorney (2002–2011)
In 2002, Kamala Harris ran for District Attorney of San
Francisco, conducting a "forceful" campaign that distinguished her
from incumbent Terence Hallinan by criticizing his performance. She won the
election with 56% of the vote, becoming the first person of color elected as
district attorney in San Francisco. Harris ran unopposed for a second term in
2007.
In her first six months in office, Harris cleared 27 of 74
backlogged homicide cases. She advocated for higher bail for defendants
involved in gun-related crimes, arguing that historically low bail levels
encouraged crime. The San Francisco Police Department credited her with
tightening legal loopholes that had been exploited by defendants. Throughout
her tenure, Harris maintained her pledge to never seek the death penalty, even
in high-profile cases, such as that of Officer Isaac Espinoza, who was killed
in 2004, and Edwin Ramos, an alleged MS-13 gang member accused of a triple
homicide in 2009.
Harris established a Hate Crimes Unit focused on protecting
LGBT youth in schools and supported the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act.
She also created an Environmental Crimes Unit in 2005 and backed San
Francisco's sanctuary city policy, which prohibited inquiries about immigration
status during criminal investigations. In 2004, she launched the San Francisco
Reentry Division, which had a recidivism rate of less than 10% over six years,
significantly lower than the state average for drug offenders.
To address the city's homicide rate, Harris initiated a
citywide effort to combat truancy among at-risk elementary school students in
San Francisco. In 2008, she declared chronic truancy a public safety issue and
prosecuted parents whose children missed significant school days, marking the
first time such actions were taken in the city. Over three years, her office
prosecuted seven parents without any jail time, and by April 2009, the number
of habitual or chronic truants had decreased significantly.
### Attorney General of California (2011–2017)
Kamala Harris was elected Attorney General of California in
2010, making history as the first woman, African American, and South Asian
American to hold the office. She took office on January 3, 2011, and was
reelected in 2014, serving until she resigned on January 3, 2017, to assume her
seat in the United States Senate.
Harris announced her candidacy for attorney general in 2010,
receiving endorsements from prominent California Democrats, including U.S.
Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She
won the Democratic primary and narrowly defeated Republican nominee Steve
Cooley in the general election. Her tenure was characterized by significant
efforts in consumer protection, criminal justice reform, and privacy rights.
During her second term, which she won with 58% of the vote
against Republican Ronald Gold, Harris expanded her focus on consumer
protection, achieving major settlements against corporations like Quest
Diagnostics, JPMorgan Chase, and Corinthian Colleges, recovering billions for
California consumers. She played a key role in creating the Homeowner Bill of
Rights to address aggressive foreclosure practices during the housing crisis,
securing multiple nine-figure settlements against mortgage servicers. Harris
also prioritized privacy rights, collaborating with major tech companies to
ensure transparency in data-sharing practices and establishing the Privacy
Enforcement and Protection Unit to address cyber privacy and data breaches.
In addition to consumer protection, Harris advanced criminal
justice reform by launching the Division of Recidivism Reduction and Re-Entry
and implementing the Back on Track LA program, which offered educational and
job training opportunities for nonviolent offenders. Despite her reform
efforts, she faced criticism for her defense of the state’s position in
wrongful conviction cases and her office’s stance on prison labor. Harris
continued to advocate for progressive reforms, including the ban on the gay
panic defense in California courts and opposing Proposition 8, the state's
same-sex marriage ban.
### U.S. Senator (2017–2021)
After more than 20 years of service, Senator Barbara Boxer
announced on January 13, 2015, that she would not seek reelection in 2016.
Harris declared her candidacy for the Senate seat the following week and
quickly became a leading contender.
The 2016 California Senate election utilized the state’s
top-two primary system, which allowed the top two candidates to advance to the
general election regardless of party affiliation. On February 27, 2016, Harris
garnered 78% of the California Democratic Party vote at the party convention,
securing financial support for her campaign. By June 7, she finished first in
the primary with 40% of the vote, leading in most counties. In the general
election, she faced fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez.
Harris received endorsements from President Barack Obama and
Vice President Joe Biden in July 2016. In the November election, she defeated
Sanchez with over 60% of the vote, winning in all but four counties. After her
victory, Harris vowed to protect immigrants from the policies of
then-President-elect Donald Trump and announced her intention to serve as
Attorney General until the end of 2016. She became the second Black woman and
the first South Asian American senator in U.S. history.
As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control
laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and various healthcare
and taxation reforms. She gained national attention for her incisive
questioning of several Trump appointees, including Jeff Sessions and Brett
Kavanaugh.
### 2017
On January 28, after President Trump signed Executive Order
13769, which barred citizens from several Muslim-majority countries from
entering the U.S. for 90 days, Kamala Harris condemned the order, calling it a
"Muslim ban." She reached out to White House Chief of Staff John F.
Kelly to gather information and challenge the executive action.
In February, Harris opposed Trump’s cabinet picks, notably
Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education and Jeff Sessions for Attorney General. By
early March, she called for Sessions's resignation after revelations that he
had communicated with the Russian ambassador despite previously denying such
interactions.
In April, Harris voted against the confirmation of Neil
Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. Later that month, she embarked on her first
foreign trip to the Middle East, visiting California troops in Iraq and the
Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, home to many Syrian refugees.
In June, Harris gained significant media attention for her
questioning of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein regarding the firing of
FBI Director James Comey. Her pointed inquiries prompted interruptions from
Senate colleagues, sparking discussions about gender bias in their treatment of
her. A week later, she similarly questioned Sessions, who remarked that her
inquiries made him "nervous."
In December, Harris called for the resignation of Senator Al
Franken, stating that "sexual harassment and misconduct should not be
allowed by anyone and should not occur anywhere."
### 2018
In January, following Franken's resignation, Harris was
appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She challenged Homeland Security
Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over her comments favoring Norwegian immigrants and
her lack of awareness about Norway's demographics.
Harris co-sponsored the Border and Port Security Act to
enhance U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffing. In May, she aggressively
questioned Nielsen about the administration's family separation policy. After
visiting a detention facility in San Diego in June, she became the first
senator to demand Nielsen's resignation.
During the September and October confirmation hearings for
Brett Kavanaugh, Harris probed him about a potential meeting related to the
Mueller investigation, which he struggled to answer. She voted against his
confirmation.
Harris was targeted during the October mail bombing attempts
against several prominent Democrats. In December, she sponsored the Justice for
Victims of Lynching Act, which aimed to make lynching a federal hate crime.
### 2019
Harris expressed support for busing to desegregate public
schools, stating that U.S. schools were as segregated as they had been in her
childhood. She was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, advocating for a
shift to 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
Following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, Harris called for Attorney
General William Barr to testify before Congress. She criticized Barr’s summary
of the report as misleading. During Barr's Senate testimony in May, she
confronted him about his failure to review evidence before concluding there was
no obstruction of justice by Trump.
Harris highlighted voter suppression as a factor in the 2018
gubernatorial elections in Georgia and Florida. In July, she joined efforts to
investigate the persecution of Uyghurs in China and, in November, called for an
investigation into the death of Roxsana Hernández, a transgender woman who died
in ICE custody. In December, she led a demand for the removal of senior White
House adviser Stephen Miller after racist emails were revealed.
### 2020
Before the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Harris spoke
on the Senate floor, asserting that no one, including the president, is above
the law. She voted to convict Trump on charges of abuse of power and
obstruction of Congress.
Throughout the year, she worked on bipartisan legislation,
including a bail reform bill with Rand Paul, an election security bill with
James Lankford, and a workplace harassment bill with Lisa Murkowski.
### 2021
After being elected Vice President of the United States,
Harris resigned from her Senate seat on January 18, 2021, and was succeeded by
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
### Committee Assignments
While in the Senate, Harris served on several committees,
including:
- Committee on the Budget
- Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Subcommittee on
Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management
- Subcommittee on
Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management
- Select Committee on Intelligence
- Committee on the Judiciary
- Subcommittee on
the Constitution
- Subcommittee on
Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts
- Subcommittee on
Privacy, Technology and the Law
### Caucus Memberships
Harris was a member of the following caucuses:
- Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
- Congressional Black Caucus
- Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues
**2020 Presidential Election: Kamala Harris's Campaign**
Kamala Harris was considered a strong contender for the 2020
Democratic nomination for president. In June 2018, she mentioned she was
"not ruling it out," and by July 2018, plans for a memoir suggested a
potential run. On January 21, 2019, Harris officially announced her candidacy
for president.
In her first 24 hours, she tied Bernie Sanders's record for
the most donations in a day after an announcement. Her campaign launch event in
Oakland, California, attracted over 20,000 attendees, according to police
estimates.
During the first Democratic debate in June 2019, Harris
confronted former Vice President Joe Biden about his past remarks regarding
segregation and busing, which led to a surge in her poll numbers. In the second
debate in August, both Biden and Representative Tulsi Gabbard challenged her on
her record as attorney general, with some critiques resonating while others
were seen as less substantiated. **2020 Presidential Election: Kamala Harris's
Campaign and Vice Presidency**
In the aftermath of the debates, Kamala Harris's poll
numbers declined, eventually falling to low single digits. She faced criticism
from reform advocates for her tough-on-crime policies as California's attorney
general, including her defense of the death penalty in 2014. Despite this, an
informal online group called #KHive emerged to support her candidacy and
counteract racist and sexist attacks.
On December 3, 2019, Harris withdrew from the presidential
race due to a lack of funds. In March 2020, she endorsed Joe Biden for
president.
**Vice Presidential Campaign**
In May 2019, senior members of the Congressional Black
Caucus backed the idea of a Biden-Harris ticket. After Biden's victories in the
South Carolina primary and on Super Tuesday, he committed to selecting a woman
as his running mate. Harris expressed her willingness to be Biden's running
mate, stating she would be "honored" to do so.
Following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent
protests, there were renewed calls for Biden to select a Black woman as his
running mate. By June, Harris was emerging as a front-runner, being the only
African American woman with substantial political experience typical of vice
presidents. On August 11, 2020, Biden officially announced Harris as his
running mate, making her the first African American, Indian American, and third
woman to be nominated for vice president on a major party ticket. She is also
the first resident of the Western United States on the Democratic national
ticket.
Harris became vice president-elect after Biden's victory in
the 2020 presidential election.
**Vice Presidency (2021–Present)**
Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president on January 20,
2021, by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She made history as the first woman, African
American, and Asian American vice president of the United States. Her first
official act was to swear in three new senators, including her successor, Alex
Padilla.
As president of the Senate, Harris often cast tie-breaking
votes due to a 50–50 split between Republicans and Democrats. She cast her first
two tie-breaking votes on February 5, 2021, and her votes were crucial for
passing the American Rescue Plan Act. By July 20, 2021, she surpassed Mike
Pence's record for tie-breaking votes in a vice president's first year,
ultimately casting 13 tie-breaking votes, the most in a single year in U.S.
history.
On December 5, 2023, Harris broke the record for the most
tie-breaking votes cast by a vice president, surpassing John C. Calhoun's
previous record. Additionally, on November 19, 2021, she served as acting
president for a brief period while Biden underwent a colonoscopy. She was the
first woman and the third person overall to assume the powers and duties of the
presidency as acting president of the United States. By December 2021, Kamala
Harris was recognized as playing a crucial role in the Biden administration,
particularly due to her tie-breaking vote in the evenly divided Senate and her
status as a presumed front-runner for the 2024 election if Biden chose not to
seek reelection.
**Immigration**
On March 24, 2021, President Biden assigned Harris to work
with Mexico and the Northern Triangle nations—El Salvador, Guatemala, and
Honduras—to address the root causes of irregular migration to the U.S.-Mexico
border. This effort resulted in the Root Causes Strategy (RCS). Although
multiple news organizations referred to her as a "border czar,"
Harris rejected the title, clarifying that she did not hold such authority.
Critics, particularly from the Republican Party, used the term to link her to the
border crisis, even in a July 2024 House resolution.
Harris undertook her first international trip as vice
president in June 2021, visiting Guatemala and Mexico to address the surge in
migration from Central America. During a joint press conference with Guatemalan
President Alejandro Giammattei, she issued a clear message to potential
migrants: "Do not come. Do not come." Her efforts led to the
establishment of task forces on corruption and human trafficking, the
Partnership for Central America, and the women's empowerment program In Her
Hands, as well as investment funds for housing and businesses.
**Foreign Policy**
In her foreign policy role, Harris met with French President
Emmanuel Macron in November 2021 to strengthen ties following the contentious
cancellation of a submarine program. Another meeting took place during Macron's
U.S. visit in November 2022, resulting in an agreement to enhance U.S.-France
space cooperation.
In April 2021, Harris indicated she was the last person in
the room before Biden decided to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan,
commending his courage in making difficult decisions. National Security Advisor
Jake Sullivan noted that Biden insisted on her participation in all core
decision-making meetings, where she often contributed unique perspectives.
Harris took on a key diplomatic role in the Biden
administration, particularly following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February
2022. She was dispatched to Germany and Poland to rally support for arming
Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia. In April 2023, she visited the
Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland with South Korean President Yoon Suk
Yeol, agreeing to strengthen the space alliance between the U.S. and South
Korea"We renew our commitment to strengthen our cooperation in the next
frontier of our expanding alliance, and of course that is space," Harris
said at a joint news conference with South Korean President Yoon. In November
2023, she pledged that the Biden administration would place no conditions on
U.S. aid to Israel in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza. In March 2024, she
criticized Israel's actions during the Israel-Hamas war, stating, "Given
the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire
for at least the next six weeks... This will get the hostages out and get a
significant amount of aid in."
**2024 Presidential Campaign**
On July 21, 2024, incumbent President Joe Biden suspended
his campaign for reelection and endorsed Harris for president. She received
endorsements from prominent figures, including Jimmy Carter, Bill and Hillary
Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, and the Congressional Black Caucus. In the
first 24 hours of her candidacy, her campaign raised $81 million in
small-dollar donations, marking the highest single-day total for any
presidential candidate in history. If elected, Harris would be the first female
and first Asian American president of the United States and the second African
American president, following Obama. By August 5, she secured the nomination
via a virtual roll call of delegates, and the next day, she announced Minnesota
Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate. On August 22, 2024,
during the Democratic National Convention, she officially accepted the
Democratic nomination for president. Harris participated in a debate with
Donald Trump on September 10, which was widely reported as a victory for her.
**Political Positions**
Harris's domestic platform supports national abortion
protections, LGBTQ+ rights, stricter gun control, and targeted legislation to
address climate change. On immigration, she advocates for an earned pathway to
citizenship, enhanced border security, and addressing the root causes of
illegal immigration through the RCS program. In foreign policy, she supports
continued military aid to Ukraine and Israel but insists that Israel must agree
to a ceasefire and work toward a two-state solution. She opposes an arms
embargo on Israel and has proposed a "populist" economic agenda that
differs from Biden's.
**Personal Life**
In the 1990s, Harris dated Willie Brown, the former Speaker
of the California Assembly and Mayor of San Francisco. She briefly dated talk
show host Montel Williams in 2001. Harris met her husband, attorney Doug
Emhoff, through a mutual friend in 2013. Emhoff, born into a Jewish family, was
an entertainment lawyer and became a partner at Venable LLP's Los Angeles
office. They married on August 22, 2014, in Santa Barbara, California. Harris
is a stepmother to Emhoff's two children from his previous marriage. As of
August 2024, their estimated net worth was $8 million. Harris is a Baptist and
a member of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco and The Links, an
organization for prominent Black American women. She is also a gun owner.
Harris's sister, Maya, is a lawyer and political analyst for
MSNBC, while her brother-in-law, Tony West, serves as general counsel for Uber
and is a former senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice. Her niece,
Meena, is the founder of the Phenomenal Women Action Campaign and previously
headed strategy and leadership at Uber.
**Public Image**
Although public perception of Harris as vice president was
unfavorable at times, leading to record low approval ratings, her image
improved significantly after Biden withdrew from the 2024 race. Notably, her
approval rating increased by 13% among Democrats. During a speech on May 10,
2023, she made headlines for her remark, "You think you just fell out of a
coconut tree?"
Harris's vice presidency has experienced high staff
turnover, including the departures of her chief of staff, deputy chief of
staff, press secretary, and chief speechwriter. Critics have cited this
turnover as evidence of dysfunction and demoralization within her office.
However, reports indicate that some of this turnover stemmed from the
challenges of transitioning into the new administration, along with financial
and personal considerations.
For much of her term, Harris had one of the lowest approval
ratings of any vice president. A RealClear Politics polling average indicated
that only 34.8% of Americans held a favorable view of her in August 2022. This
figure began to rise after she became the presumptive Democratic presidential
nominee in July 2024, and by September 9, she achieved a net favorable rating.
In 2024, a video clip of Harris saying, "You think you
just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you
live and what came before you," went viral, contributing to renewed
interest in her public image. Her distinctive and often boisterous laughter has
been described as one of her most defining traits, a quality she attributes to her
mother.
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