Kamala Devi Harris is the 49th Vice President of the United States of America. She was elected Vice President after a lifetime of public service, having been elected District Attorney of San Francisco, California Attorney General, and United States Senator. Harris has spent her life breaking glass ceilings.
On Oct. 20, 1964 in Oakland, California, Harris was born a daughter of immigrants. Her mother emigrated from India while her father emigrated from Jamaica. Harris’ parents were activists, instilling in her a strong sense of ethics at a young age. Her parents took her to demonstrations that gave what Harris describes as a “stroller-eye view of the Civil Rights movement”. These early experiences inspired her to want to make change in a world that she saw as unjust.
Growing up in Oakland, Harris was immersed in both an Indian and African American culture. Her mother taught Harris Indian values and traditions while also making sure she was connected to her African American roots. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, Harris’ mother, was her first role model to deeply inspire her. As an immigrant who moved to America to be a cancer researcher Harris saw her mother as an embodiment of the American dream. These early experiences along with the introduction of role models such as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and civil rights leader Constance Baker Motley inspired Harris to pursue law.
“My mother would look at me and she’d say, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.’”
– Kamala Harris
After high school, Harris graduated from Howard University, a prestigious HBCU in Washington, D.C. She then went on to receive her law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. She then joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. She later served as a managing attorney in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and was ultimately chief of the Division on Children and Families for the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. She was later elected District Attorney of San Francisco in 2003, the first African American woman and South Asian woman to hold the office.
In 2010, Harris was elected California’s Attorney General and was then again the first African American woman and South Asian woman to hold the office. While in the position she oversaw the largest state justice department in the United States. She established the state’s first Bureau of Children’s Justice and instituted several reforms that ensured transparency and accountability in the criminal justice system. During her tenure Harris won a $20 billion settlement for Californians whose homes had been foreclosed on, as well as a $1.1 billion settlement for students and veterans who were taken advantage of by a for-profit education company. She also defended the Affordable Care Act in court, enforced environmental law, and was a leader in the movement for marriage equality in the United States.
She later married lawyer Doug Emhoff and became stepmother to his two children. She then proudly took on the job of “Momala” and became a dedicated figure in the kids lives.
In 2017, Harris was sworn into the United States Senate becoming only the second African American woman to ever be elected to the Senate in U.S. history. As a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, she fought for better protections for DREAMers and called for better oversight of substandard conditions at immigrant detention facilities. On the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, she worked with members of both parties to keep the American people safe from foreign threats and crafted bipartisan legislation to assist in securing American elections. She also served on the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her time on committee, she dealt with important issues, such as the investigation into Russian influence and meddling in the 2016 election.
Harris also championed legislation to reform cash bail, combat hunger, provide rent relief, improve maternal health care, address the climate crisis, healthcare reform, federal de-scheduling of cannabis, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a ban on assault weapons, and progressive tax reform. Her bipartisan anti-lynching bill passed the Senate in 2018. Her legislation to preserve Historically Black Colleges and Universities was signed into law, as was her effort to infuse much-needed capital into low-income communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harris became known as a sharp, aggressive questioner in the senate and made a name of herself even as a junior member. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault being her most notable moment in the senate.
In 2019, Harris launched her campaign for President of the United States. While she did not win the Democratic primary, she proved that she was capable of taking on an even larger leadership role in the United States. On Aug. 11, 2020 Former Vice President and 2020 Democratic Presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden chose Harris as his running mate for the 2020 ticket. This pick made Harris the fourth woman on a major party’s national ticket and the second African American on a presidential ticket.
On the night of Nov. 7, 2020, standing on an outdoor stage in Wilmington, Delaware, five days after election day Kamala Harris accepted victory as Vice President-Elect and delivered the following,
“When my mother came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn’t quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible. So, I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black Women. Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation’s history who have paved the way for this moment tonight. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty, and justice for all, including the Black women, who are too often overlooked, but so often Prove that they are the backbone of our democracy…. But while I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before. And we will applaud you every step of the way,”
– Kamala Harris
On Jan. 20, 2021, on a cold Inauguration Day morning, only two weeks after an insurrection had been held where she was standing against her election results, in a moment where the political future of America seemed uncertain. It was in that moment she was sworn in as Vice President, the first African American, South Asian American and woman to do so. she delivered the following remarks:
To stand on the shoulders of those who came before. To speak tonight as your Vice President.In many ways, this moment embodies our character as a nation. It demonstrates who we are.
– Kamala Harris
Since sworn into the nation’s second highest office, Vice President Harris has delivered on her promises for the American people. In a little over a year she’s been a key factor in America’s vaccination efforts which have gotten more than 200 million people vaccinated against the virus while also closing the racial equity gap in COVID-19 vaccinations. She also help rebuild America’s economy during the pandemic by adding more than 6.4 million jobs and lowering unemployment to record levels. Vice President Harris also played a pivotal role of passing the Bipartisan infrastructure bill through congress to become law a piece of legislation that delivers historic investments in infrastructure not seen since the new deal. Harris along with her administration have also made strives in making healthcare more affordable by cutting health care premiums and combating the climate crisis by resigning the Paris climate agreement and advancing America’s strives in renewable energy.
Kamala Harris has spent her life breaking glass ceilings. She has been the first woman, the first African American, and the first South Asian American to be elected to many offices and more importantly she is determined not to be the last.
“When I look at young girls and boys, and they look at me, they see themselves, and what they can be. That’s the weight that I carry, and the joy of the weight.”
– Kamala Harris