Kamala Harris
Official portrait, 2021
49th Vice President of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office January 20, 2021
President	Joe Biden
Preceded by	Mike Pence
United States Senator from California
In office January 3, 2017 – January 18, 2021
Preceded by	Barbara Boxer
Succeeded by	Alex Padilla
32nd Attorney General of California
In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017
Governor	Jerry Brown
Preceded by	Jerry Brown
Succeeded by	Xavier Becerra
27th District Attorney of San Francisco
In office January 8, 2004 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Terence Hallinan
Succeeded by	George Gascón
Personal details
Born	Kamala Devi Harris[a] (1964-10-20) October 20, 1964 (age 59) Oakland, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Doug Emhoff ​ (m. 2014)​
Parents	Donald J. Harris Shyamala Gopalan
Relatives	Harris family
Residence	Number One Observatory Circle
Education	Howard University (BA) University of California, Hastings College of the Law (JD)
Signature
Website	Campaign website
Harris's voice Harris speaks on the Americans with Disabilities Act. Recorded July 26, 2021

This article is part of a series about Kamala Harris
Personal Early life Bibliography Smart on Crime Superheroes Are Everywhere The Truths We Hold Family Political positions Public image #KHive 27th District Attorney of San Francisco Elections 2003 2007 32nd Attorney General of California Tenure Elections 2010 2014 U.S. Senator from California 2016 election Legislation Justice for Victims of Lynching Act MORE Act Rent Relief Act 49th Vice President of the United States Incumbent Transition Biden administration inauguration Office of Gun Violence Prevention "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?" Vice presidential campaigns 2020 selection convention debate election "We did it, Joe!" 2024 Presidential campaigns 2020 primaries endorsements 2024 endorsements VP selection convention election
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Kamala Devi Harris^[b] (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 with President Joe Biden. She is the first female vice president, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well as both the first African American and the first Asian American vice president. Harris is the Democratic Party's nominee for president in the 2024 election. She served in the United States Senate from 2017 to 2021 as the junior senator from California, and earlier as the attorney general of California.

Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney (DA) of Alameda County, before being recruited to the San Francisco DA's Office and later the city attorney of San Francisco's office. In 2003, she was elected DA of San Francisco. She was elected attorney general of California in 2010 and reelected in 2014. Harris was the first woman, African American, and Asian American to hold these offices in the state's history.

Harris served as the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election to become the second Black woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the U.S. Senate. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. 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.

Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate, casting more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her own campaign with Biden's endorsement. She chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

Kamala Devi Harris^[a] was born in Oakland, California,^[3] on October 20, 1964.^[4] Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a biologist who arrived in the United States from India in 1958 to enroll in graduate school in endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley. A research career of over 40 years followed, during which her work on the progesterone receptor gene led to advances in breast cancer research.^[5] Harris's father, Donald J. Harris,^[6] arrived in the U.S. from Jamaica in 1961, also enrolling in UC Berkeley and specializing in development economics. The first Black scholar to be granted tenure at the Department of Economics in Stanford University, he now has emeritus status there.^[7] Kamala Harris's parents met in 1962 and married in 1963.^[8]

The Harris family lived in Berkeley, California, until they moved in 1966, around Kamala's second birthday. They lived for a few years in college towns in the Midwest where her parents held teaching or research positions:^[9] Urbana, Illinois (where her sister Maya was born in 1966), Evanston, Illinois, and Madison, Wisconsin.^{[c][10][9][11]} By 1970, the marriage had faltered, and Shyamala moved back to California with her two daughters;^[12][13][9] the couple divorced when Kamala was seven.^[14] In 1972, Donald Harris accepted a position at Stanford University; Kamala and Maya spent weekends at their father's house in Palo Alto and lived at their mother's house in Berkeley during the week.^[15] Shyamala was friends with African-American intellectuals and activists in Oakland and Berkeley.^[11] In 1976, Shyamala accepted a research position at the McGill University School of Medicine, and moved with her daughters to Montreal, Quebec.^[16][17] Harris graduated from Westmount High School in Montreal in 1981.^[18]

Harris attended Vanier College in Montreal in 1981–82,^[19] and then attended Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C.^[20][21] At Howard, she became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, one of the "Divine Nine" historically black sororities.^[22] She graduated in 1986 with a degree in political science and economics.^[23] Harris then attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco,^[24] where she served as president of its chapter of the Black Law Students Association.^[25] She graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1989.^[26]

In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, where she was described as "an able prosecutor on the way up".^[27] In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown, who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.^[27] In February 1998, San Francisco district attorney Terence Hallinan recruited Harris as an assistant district attorney.^[28] There, she became the chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide, burglary, robbery, and sexual assault cases—particularly three-strikes cases. In August 2000, Harris took a job at San Francisco City Hall, working for city attorney Louise Renne.^[29] Harris ran the Family and Children's Services Division, representing child abuse and neglect cases. Renne endorsed Harris during her D.A. campaign.^[30]

In 2002, Harris ran for District Attorney of San Francisco,^[31] running a "forceful" campaign^[32][33] and differentiating herself from Hallinan by attacking his performance.^[34] Harris won the election with 56% of the vote, becoming the first person of color elected district attorney of San Francisco.^[35] She ran unopposed for a second term in 2007.^[36]

Within the first six months of taking office, Harris cleared 27 of 74 backlogged homicide cases.^[37] She also pushed for higher bail for criminal defendants involved in gun-related crimes, arguing that historically low bail encouraged outsiders to commit crimes in San Francisco. SFPD officers credited Harris with tightening the loopholes defendants had used in the past.^[38] During her campaign, Harris pledged never to seek the death penalty,^[39] and kept to this in the cases of a San Francisco Police Department officer, Isaac Espinoza, who was shot and killed in 2004,^[40][41] and of Edwin Ramos, an illegal immigrant and alleged MS-13 gang member who was accused of murdering a man and his two sons in 2009.^[42][43]

Harris created a Hate Crimes Unit, focusing on hate crimes against LGBT children and teens in schools,^[44] and supported A.B. 1160, the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act.^[45] As District Attorney, she created an environmental crimes unit in 2005.^[46] Harris expressed support for San Francisco's sanctuary city policy of not inquiring about immigration status in the process of a criminal investigation.^[47] In 2004, Harris created the San Francisco Reentry Division.^[48] Over six years, the 200 people graduated from the program had a recidivism rate of less than 10%, compared to the 53% of California's drug offenders who returned to prison within two years of release.^[49][50][51]

In 2006, as part of an initiative to reduce the city's homicide rate, Harris led a citywide effort to combat truancy for at-risk elementary school youth in San Francisco.^[52] In 2008, declaring chronic truancy a matter of public safety and pointing out that the majority of prison inmates and homicide victims are dropouts or habitual truants,^[53] she issued citations against six parents whose children missed at least 50 days of school, the first time San Francisco prosecuted adults for student truancy.^[54] Harris's office ultimately prosecuted seven parents in three years, with none jailed.^[55] By April 2009, 1,330 elementary school students were habitual or chronic truants, down 23% from 1,730 in 2008, and from 2,517 in 2007 and 2,856 in 2006.^[55]

In the 2010 California Attorney General election, Harris defeated Republican Los Angeles County district attorney Steve Cooley.^[56][57] She was sworn in on January 3, 2011; she was the first woman, the first African American, and the first South Asian American to hold the office.^[58] In February 2014, Harris announced her intention to run for reelection.^[59] On November 4, 2014, Harris was reelected against Republican nomine Ronald Gold with 57.5% of the vote to Gold's 42.5%.^[60]

In 2011, Harris obtained two of the largest recoveries in the history of California's False Claims Act over excess state Medi-Cal and federal Medicare payments.^[61][62] In 2012, she leveraged California's economic clout to obtain better terms in the National Mortgage Settlement against the nation's five largest mortgage servicers.^[63] Harris worked with Assembly speaker John Pérez and Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg in 2013 to introduce the Homeowner Bill of Rights, considered one of the strongest protections nationwide against aggressive foreclosure tactics.^[64] In 2013, she declined to authorize a civil complaint against OneWest Bank, owned by an investment group headed by Steven Mnuchin (then a private citizen);^[65] Harris was later criticized for accepting a donation from Mnuchin.^[66] In 2015, Harris obtained a $1.2 billion judgment against for-profit Corinthian Colleges for false advertising and deceptive marketing targeting vulnerable, low-income students and misrepresenting job placement rates to students, investors, and accreditation agencies.^[67]

Harris opposed California's ban on affirmative action^[68] and filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas asking that the Court "reaffirm its decision that public colleges and universities may consider race as one factor in admissions decisions."^[69][70]

In February 2012, Harris announced an agreement with Apple, Amazon, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Research in Motion, and Facebook to mandate that apps sold in their stores display prominent privacy policies informing users of what private information they were sharing, and with whom.^[71][72] In 2015, Harris secured two settlements with Comcast totaling $59 million over allegations that it posted online the names, phone numbers and addresses of tens of thousands of customers, and discarded paper records without first omitting or redacting private customer information.^[73]

In November 2013, Harris launched the California Department of Justice's Division of Recidivism, Reduction, and Reentry.^[74] Her record on wrongful conviction cases as attorney general has been criticized by academics and activists.^[75] After the 2011 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Plata declared California's prisons so overcrowded they inflicted cruel and unusual punishment, Harris fought federal supervision, saying, "I have a client, and I don't get to choose my client."^[76] In September 2014, Harris's office argued unsuccessfully in a court filing against the early release of prisoners, citing the need for inmate firefighting labor.^[77]

After being elected, Harris declared her office would not defend Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment providing that only marriages "between a man and a woman" are valid,^[78] and in February 2013 she filed an amicus curiae brief arguing Prop 8 was unconstitutional.^[79] Harris later justified her decision not to defend the law by saying, "It would be inappropriate for a state on the verge of bankruptcy to use all those resources to defend a law found to be unconstitutional."^[80] In 2014, Harris co-sponsored legislation to ban the gay and trans panic defense in court,^[81] which passed.^[82] She appealed a federal ruling in favor of an imprisoned transgender woman's request for gender-affirming surgery to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,^[83] arguing that psychotherapy^[84] and feminizing hormone therapy were sufficient medical treatment,^[85] although she said she ultimately pushed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to change its policy.^[86] In 2019, Harris said she took "full responsibility" for briefs her office filed in this case and others involving trans inmates' access to gender-affirming surgery.^[87]

In 2011, Harris urged criminal penalties for parents of truant children, allowing the court to defer judgment if the parent agreed to a mediation period to get their child back in school. Critics charged that local prosecutors implementing her directives were overzealous in their enforcement and Harris's policy adversely affected families.^[88]

Harris prioritized environmental protection as attorney general, first securing a $44 million settlement to resolve all damages and costs associated with the Cosco Busan oil spill.^[89] In the aftermath of the 2015 Refugio oil spill, she toured the coastline and directed her office's resources and attorneys to investigate possible criminal violations.^[90] From 2015 to 2016, Harris secured multiple multi-million-dollar settlements with fuel service companies Chevron, BP, ARCO, Phillips 66, and ConocoPhillips to resolve allegations they failed to properly monitor the hazardous materials in their underground gasoline storage tanks.^[91][92][93] In summer 2016, automaker Volkswagen AG agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle a raft of claims related to so-called Defeat Devices used to cheat emissions standards on its diesel cars.^[94]

In 2012, Harris announced that the California Department of Justice had improved its DNA testing capabilities, clearing California's DNA backlog for the first time.^[95] In 2015, she conducted a 90-day review of implicit bias in policing and police use of deadly force. In April 2015, Harris introduced the first-of-its-kind "Principled Policing: Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias" training to help law enforcement officers overcome barriers to neutral policing and rebuild trust between law enforcement and the public.^[96] The same year, the California Department of Justice became the nation's first statewide agency to require all its police officers to wear body cameras.^[97] In 2016, Harris announced a patterns and practices investigation into purported civil rights violations and use of excessive force by the two largest law enforcement agencies in Kern County, California.^[98]

In 2016, Harris's office seized videos and other information from the apartment of an antiabortion activist who had made secret recordings and then accused Planned Parenthood doctors of illegally selling fetal tissue.^[99][100]

In 2011, Harris created the eCrime Unit within the California Department of Justice, a 20-attorney unit targeting technology crimes.^[101] In 2015, several purveyors of so-called revenge porn sites based in California were arrested, charged with felonies, and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.^[102][103] In 2016, Harris announced the arrest of Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer on felony charges of pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping, alleging that 99% of Backpage's revenue was directly attributable to prostitution-related ads, many of which involved victims of sex trafficking, including children.^[104]

During her term as attorney general, Harris's office oversaw major investigations and prosecutions targeting transnational criminal organizations for their involvement in violent crime, fraud schemes, drug trafficking, and smuggling.^[105] In 2012, Harris signed an accord with the attorney general of Mexico, Marisela Morales, to improve coordination of law enforcement resources targeting transnational gangs selling and trafficking human beings across the San Ysidro border crossing.^[106]

On May 15, 2015, Harris received a Doctor of Laws from the University of Southern California.^[107][108] On May 13, 2017, she received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Howard University,^[109][110] where she gave a commencement address.^[111]

After more than 20 years as a U.S. senator from California, Senator Barbara Boxer announced on January 13, 2015, that she would not run for reelection in 2016.^[112] Harris announced her candidacy for the Senate seat the next week.^[112] She was a top contender from the beginning of her campaign.^[113]

The 2016 California Senate election used California's new top-two primary format, where the top two candidates in the primary advance to the general election regardless of party.^[113] On February 27, 2016, Harris won 78% of the California Democratic Party vote at the party convention, allowing her campaign to receive financial support from the party.^[114] Three months later, Governor Jerry Brown endorsed her.^[115] In the June 7 primary, Harris came in first with 40% of the vote and won with pluralities in most counties.^[116] Harris faced representative and fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez in the general election.^[117] It was the first time a Republican did not appear in a general election for the Senate since California began directly electing senators in 1914.^[117]

On July 19, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Harris.^[118] In the November 2016 election, Harris defeated Sanchez with over 60% of the vote, carrying all but four counties.^[119] After her victory, she promised to protect immigrants from the policies of President-elect Donald Trump and announced her intention to remain Attorney General through the end of 2016.^[120][121] Harris became the second Black woman and first South Asian American senator in history.^{[122][123][124]}

As a senator, Harris advocated stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and healthcare and taxation reforms.^[125][126] She became well-known nationally after questioning several Trump appointees, such as Jeff Sessions and Brett Kavanaugh.^[127]

On January 28, after Trump signed Executive Order 13769, barring citizens from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days, she condemned the order and was one of many to call it a "Muslim ban".^[128] She called White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly at home to gather information and push back against the executive order.^[129]

In February, Harris spoke in opposition to Trump's cabinet picks Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education^[130] and Jeff Sessions for United States Attorney General.^[131] In early March, she called on Sessions to resign, after it was reported that Sessions, who had previously said he "did not have communications with the Russians", spoke twice with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.^[132]

In April, Harris voted against the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[133] Later that month, she took her first foreign trip to the Middle East, visiting California troops stationed in Iraq and the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, the largest camp for Syrian refugees.^[134]

In June, Harris garnered media attention for her questioning of Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, over the role he played in the May 2017 firing of James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.^[135] The prosecutorial nature of her questioning caused Senator John McCain, an ex officio member of the Intelligence Committee, and Senator Richard Burr, the committee chairman, to interrupt her and request that she be more respectful of the witness. A week later, she questioned Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, on the same topic.^[136] Sessions said her questioning "makes me nervous".^[137] Burr's singling out of Harris sparked suggestions in the news media that his behavior was sexist, with commentators arguing that Burr would not treat a male Senate colleague in a similar manner.^[138]

In December, Harris called for the resignation of Senator Al Franken, writing on Twitter, "Sexual harassment and misconduct should not be allowed by anyone and should not occur anywhere."^[139]

In January, Harris was appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee after Franken resigned.^[140] Later that month, she questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for favoring Norwegian immigrants over others and for claiming to be unaware that Norway is a predominantly white country.^[141][142]

In May, Harris heatedly questioned Nielsen about the Trump administration family separation policy, under which children were separated from their families when their parents were taken into custody for illegally entering the U.S.^[143] In June, after visiting one of the detention facilities near the border in San Diego,^[144] Harris became the first senator to demand Nielsen's resignation.^[145]

In the September and October Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Harris questioned Brett Kavanaugh about a meeting he may have had regarding the Mueller Investigation with a member of Kasowitz Benson Torres, the law firm founded by Donald Trump's personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz. Kavanaugh was unable to answer and repeatedly deflected.^[147] Harris also participated in questioning the FBI director's limited scope of the investigation of Kavanaugh regarding allegations of sexual assault.^[148] She voted against his confirmation.

Harris was a target of the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts.^[149]

In December, the Senate passed the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act (S. 3178), sponsored by Harris.^[150] The bill, which died in the House, would have made lynching a federal hate crime.^[151]

Harris supported busing for desegregation of public schools, saying, "the schools of America are as segregated, if not more segregated, today than when I was in elementary school."^[152] She viewed busing as an option to be considered by school districts, rather than the responsibility of the federal government.^[153]

Harris was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, a plan to transition the country towards generating 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.^[154]

In March 2019, after Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, Harris called for U.S. Attorney General William Barr to testify before Congress in the interests of transparency.^[155] Two days later, Barr released a four-page "summary" of the redacted Mueller Report, which was criticized as a deliberate mischaracterization of its conclusions.^[156] Later that month, Harris was one of 12 Democratic senators led by Mazie Hirono to sign a letter questioning Barr's decision to offer "his own conclusion that the President's conduct did not amount to obstruction of justice", and called for an investigation into whether Barr's summary of the Mueller Report and his statements at a news conference were misleading.^[157]

On May 1, 2019, Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.^[158] During the hearing, he remained defiant about the misrepresentations in the four-page summary he had released ahead of the full report.^[159] When asked by Harris whether he had reviewed the underlying evidence before deciding not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice, Barr admitted that neither he, Rod Rosenstein, nor anyone in his office had reviewed the evidence supporting the report before making the charging decision.^[160] Harris later called for Barr to resign, accusing him of refusing to answer her questions because he could open himself up to perjury, and saying his responses disqualified him from serving as U.S. attorney general.^[161][162] Two days later, Harris demanded again that the Department of Justice inspector general Michael E. Horowitz investigate whether Barr acceded to pressure from the White House to investigate Trump's political enemies.^[163]

On May 5, 2019, Harris said "voter suppression" prevented Democrats Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum from winning the 2018 gubernatorial elections in Georgia and Florida; Abrams lost by 55,000 votes and Gillum by 32,000. According to election law expert Richard L. Hasen, "I have seen no good evidence that the suppressive effects of strict voting and registration laws affected the outcome of the governor's races in Georgia and Florida."^[164]

In July, Harris teamed with Kirsten Gillibrand to urge the Trump administration to investigate the persecution of Uyghurs in China by the Chinese Communist Party; in this question she was joined by Senator Marco Rubio.^[165]

In November, Harris called for an investigation into the death of Roxsana Hernández, a transgender woman and immigrant who died in ICE custody.^[166][167]

In December, Harris led a group of Democratic senators and civil rights organizations in demanding the removal of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller after emails published by the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed frequent promotion of white nationalist literature to Breitbart website editors.^[168]

Before the opening of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump on January 16, 2020, Harris delivered remarks on the floor of the Senate, stating her views on the integrity of the American justice system and the principle that nobody, including an incumbent president, is above the law. She later asked Senate Judiciary chairman Lindsey Graham to halt all judicial nominations during the impeachment trial, to which Graham acquiesced.^[169][170] Harris voted to convict Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.^[171]

Harris worked on bipartisan bills with Republican co-sponsors, including a bail reform bill with Rand Paul,^[172] an election security bill with James Lankford,^[173] and a workplace harassment bill with Lisa Murkowski.^[174]

Following her election as Vice President of the United States, Harris resigned from her seat on January 18, 2021,^[175] before taking office on January 20, and was replaced by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.^[176]

While in the Senate, Harris was a member of the following committees:^[177]

• 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^[178]
  • Subcommittee on the Constitution
  • Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts
  • Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law

• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus^[179]
• Congressional Black Caucus^[180]
• Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues

Harris had been considered a top contender and potential front-runner for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president.^[181] In June 2018, she said she was "not ruling it out".^[182] In July 2018, it was announced that she would publish a memoir, a sign of a possible run.^[183] On January 21, 2019, Harris officially announced her candidacy for president of the United States in the 2020 presidential election.^[184] In the first 24 hours after her announcement, she tied a record set by Bernie Sanders in 2016 for the most donations raised in the day after an announcement.^[185][186] More than 20,000 people attended her campaign launch event in her hometown of Oakland, California, on January 27, according to a police estimate.^[187]

During the first Democratic presidential debate in June 2019, Harris scolded former vice president Joe Biden for "hurtful" remarks he made, speaking fondly of senators who opposed integration efforts in the 1970s and working with them to oppose mandatory school bussing.^[188] Harris's support rose by between six and nine points in polls after that debate.^[189] In the second debate in August, Biden and Representative Tulsi Gabbard confronted Harris over her record as attorney general.^[190] The San Jose Mercury News assessed that some of Gabbard's and Biden's accusations were on point, such as blocking the DNA testing of a death row inmate, while others did not withstand scrutiny. In the immediate aftermath of the debate, Harris fell in the polls.^[191][192] Over the next few months her poll numbers fell to the low single digits.^[193][194] Harris faced criticism from reformers for tough-on-crime policies she pursued while she was California's attorney general.^[195] In 2014, she defended California's death penalty in court.^[196]

Before and during her presidential campaign, an online informal organization using the hashtag #KHive formed to support Harris's candidacy and defend her from racist and sexist attacks.^{[197][198][199]} According to the Daily Dot, Joy Reid first used the term in an August 2017 tweet saying "@DrJasonJohnson @ZerlinaMaxwell and I had a meeting and decided it's called the K-Hive."^[200]

On December 3, 2019, Harris withdrew from the 2020 presidential election, citing a shortage of funds.^[201] In March 2020, she endorsed Joe Biden for president.^[202]

In May 2019, senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed the idea of a Biden–Harris ticket.^[203] In late February 2020, Biden won a landslide victory in the 2020 South Carolina Democratic primary with the endorsement of House whip Jim Clyburn, with more victories on Super Tuesday. In early March, Clyburn suggested Biden choose a black woman as a running mate, saying, "African American women needed to be rewarded for their loyalty".^[204] In March, Biden committed to choosing a woman for his running mate.^[205]

On April 17, 2020, Harris responded to media speculation and said she "would be honored" to be Biden's running mate.^[206] In late May, in relation to the murder of George Floyd and ensuing protests and demonstrations, Biden faced renewed calls to select a black woman as his running mate, highlighting the law enforcement credentials of Harris and Val Demings.^[207]

On June 12, The New York Times reported that Harris was emerging as the front-runner to be Biden's running mate, as she was the only African American woman with the political experience typical of vice presidents.^[208] On June 26, CNN reported that more than a dozen people close to the Biden search process considered Harris one of Biden's top four contenders, along with Elizabeth Warren, Val Demings, and Keisha Lance Bottoms.^[209]

On August 11, 2020, Biden announced he had chosen Harris.^[210] She was the first African American, the first Indian American, and the third woman after Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin to be the vice-presidential nominee on a major-party ticket.^[211] Harris is also the first resident of the Western United States to appear on the Democratic Party's national ticket.^[212]

Harris became the vice president–elect after Biden won the 2020 presidential election.^[213] After the major networks called the election for Biden and Harris, Harris was recorded calling Biden, saying: "We did it! We did it, Joe. You're going to be the next President of the United States." The video became one of the ten most-liked tweets of 2020.^[214] Biden and Harris were jointly named Time Person of the Year for 2020.^[215]

After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Harris assumed office as vice president on January 20, 2021.^[216] She is the United States' first female vice president, the highest-ranking female elected official in U.S. history, and the first African-American and first Asian-American vice president.^{[217][218][219][220]} She is also the second person of color to hold the post, preceded by Charles Curtis, a Native American and member of the Kaw Nation, who served under Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933.^[221] Harris is the third person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach one of the highest offices in the executive branch, after Curtis and President Barack Obama, and the first woman to hold the position of acting president of the United States under the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.^[222]

Harris was sworn in as vice president on January 20, 2021, on two Bibles held by her husband, one belonging to Regina Shelton, a person important to her and her sister Maya Harris, and another belonging to former U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor administered the oath of office to Harris at 11:40 a.m., with 20 minutes remaining in Vice President Mike Pence's term. Sotomayor became the first woman to administer an inaugural oath twice after she administered Biden's at his 2013 swearing-in. Harris recited the following:

I, Kamala Devi Harris, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God.]

Her first act as vice president was swearing in her replacement, Alex Padilla, and Georgia Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who were elected in the 2021 Georgia runoff elections.^[223]

When Harris took office on January 20, 2021, the 117th Congress's Senate was divided 50–50 between Republicans and Democrats;^[224] this meant that Harris had to be frequently called upon to exercise her power to cast tie-breaking votes as president of the Senate. Harris cast her first two tie-breaking votes on February 5. In February and March, Harris's tie-breaking votes were crucial in passing the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package proposed by Biden, since no Senate Republicans voted for it.^[225][226] On July 20, Harris broke Mike Pence's record for tie-breaking votes in the first year of a vice presidency^[227] when she cast the seventh tie-breaking vote in her first six months.^[228] She cast 13 tie-breaking votes during her first year in office, the most tie-breaking votes in a single year in U.S. history, surpassing John Adams, who cast 12 votes in 1790.^[228][229] On December 5, 2023, Harris broke the record for the most tie-breaking votes cast by a vice president, casting her 32nd vote, exceeding John C. Calhoun, who cast 31 votes during his nearly eight years as vice president, in less than half the time.^[230][231] On November 19, 2021, Harris served as acting president from 10:10 to 11:35 am EST while Biden underwent a colonoscopy.^[232] She became the first woman, and the third person overall, to assume the powers and duties of the U.S. presidency under Section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment.^[233][234]

As early as December 2021, Harris was identified as playing a pivotal role in the Biden administration owing to her tie-breaking vote in the evenly divided Senate as well as her being the presumed front-runner in 2024 if Biden did not seek reelection.^[235]

On March 24, 2021, Biden assigned Harris to work with Mexico and Northern Triangle nations to stem irregular migration to the U.S.-Mexico border and address the "root causes" of migration.^[236][237] Multiple news organizations at the time described Harris as a "border czar",^{[238][239][240]} though Harris rejected the title and never actually held it.^{[241][242][243][244][245]} Republicans and other critics began using the term "border czar" to tie Harris to the Mexico–United States border crisis, including in a July 2024 House resolution, despite her having no authority over the border itself.^{[246][247][248][249][250]}

Harris conducted her first international trip as vice president in June 2021, visiting Guatemala and Mexico in an attempt to address the root causes of an increase in migration from Central America to the United States.^[251] During her visit, in a joint press conference with Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei, Harris issued an appeal to potential migrants: "I want to be clear to folks in the region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come."^[252] Her work in Central America led to creation of task forces on corruption and human trafficking, a women's empowerment program, and an investment fund for housing and businesses.^[253]

Harris met with French president Emmanuel Macron in November 2021 to strengthen ties after the contentious cancellation of a submarine program.^[254] A subsequent meeting was held in November 2022 during Macron's visit to the U.S., resulting in an agreement to strengthen U.S.–France space cooperation across civil, commercial, and national security sectors.^[255]

In April 2021, Harris said she was the last person in the room before Biden decided to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, adding that Biden had "an extraordinary amount of courage" and "make[s] decisions based on what he truly believes ... is the right thing to do."^[256] National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that Biden "insists she be in every core decision-making meeting. She weighs in during those meetings, often providing unique perspectives."^[253] Harris assumed a "key diplomatic role" in the Biden administration, particularly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after which she was dispatched to Germany and Poland to rally support for arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia.^[257]

Harris meeting Yoon Suk Yeol in Goddard Space Flight Center, in 2023

In April 2023, Harris visited Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and agreed to work to strengthen the space alliance between the United States 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 Yoon.^[258]

In November 2023, Harris pledged that the Biden administration would place no conditions on U.S. aid to Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza.^[259] In March 2024, she criticized Israel's actions during the Israel–Hamas war, saying, "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."^[260]

In May 2021, Harris became the first female commencement speaker at the United States Naval Academy.^[261] In May 2023, she became the first woman to give a commencement address for West Point.^[262]

Harris's term in office has seen high staff turnover, including the departures of her chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, press secretary, deputy press secretary, communications director, and chief speechwriter.^[263] Critics allege that the high rate of resignations reflects "dysfunction" and demoralization.^[257] Axios reported that at least some of the turnover was due to exhaustion from a demanding transition into the new administration, as well as financial and personal considerations.^[264] For most of her tenure, Harris had one of the lowest approval ratings of any vice president.^{[265][266][267]} According to a RealClear Politics polling average, a record low of 34.8% of Americans had a favorable view of her in August 2022. This number rose drastically after she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in July 2024.^[268]

In 2024, a video clip from 2023 went viral 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" at a White House event.^[269] Since the launch of her 2024 presidential campaign, that and other Harris remarks have been widely shared as memes, resulting in press coverage of her public image.^[270][271]

Harris's boisterous laughter^[d] has been called one of her "most defining and most dissected personal traits".^[275] She says she got her laugh from her mother.^[276]

On July 21, 2024, incumbent president and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden suspended his campaign for reelection in 2024 and endorsed Harris for president.^[277] Harris was also endorsed by Jimmy Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, the Congressional Black Caucus, and many others.^{[278][279][280][281]} In the first 24 hours of her candidacy, her campaign raised $81 million in small-dollar donations, the highest single-day total of any presidential candidate in history.^[282] If elected, Harris would be the first female and first Asian-American president of the United States, and the second African-American president, after Obama.^[283] By August 5, Harris had officially secured the nomination via a virtual roll call of delegates.^{[284][285][286]} The next day, she announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate.^[287] On August 22, 2024, the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president.^[288]

Harris's domestic platform is similar to Biden's on multiple issues,^[289] supporting national abortion protections, LGBT+ rights, and limited legislation to address climate change.^[290][291] In an August 2024 interview she positioned herself as "tougher on immigration than Trump".^[292] On foreign policy, she similarly opposes the Russian invasion of Ukraine and supports continued unconditional military aid to Israel during the Israel-Hamas war.^[293] She opposes an arms embargo on Israel.^[294] Harris has departed from Biden on economic issues, proposing what has been called a "populist" economic agenda.^[295][296]

In the 1990s, Harris dated then-Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown.^[27] In 2001, she had a brief dating relationship with talk show host Montel Williams.^[297]

Harris met her future husband, attorney Doug Emhoff, through a mutual friend who set them up on a blind date in 2013.^[298] Emhoff, who was born in a Jewish family, was an entertainment lawyer who became partner-in-charge at Venable LLP's Los Angeles office.^{[299][298][300]} Harris and Emhoff married on August 22, 2014, in Santa Barbara, California.^[301] Harris is stepmother to Emhoff's two children, Cole and Ella, from his previous marriage to the film producer Kerstin Emhoff.^[302] As of August 2024^[update], Harris and her husband had an estimated net worth of $8 million.^[303][304]

Harris is a Baptist, holding membership of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, a congregation of the American Baptist Churches USA.^{[305][306][307][308]} She is a member of The Links, an invitation-only social and service organization of prominent Black American women.^[309][310]

Harris's sister, Maya, is a lawyer and MSNBC political analyst; her brother-in-law, Tony West, is general counsel of Uber and a former United States Department of Justice senior official.^[311] Her niece, Meena, is the founder of the Phenomenal Women Action Campaign and former head of strategy and leadership at Uber.^[312]

Harris has written two nonfiction books and one children's book.

• Harris, Kamala; O'C. Hamilton, Joan (2009). Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-6528-9.
• Harris, Kamala (January 8, 2019). The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-1-9848-8622-4.
• Harris, Kamala (January 8, 2019). Superheroes Are Everywhere. London: Penguin Young Readers Group. ISBN 978-1-9848-3749-3.

• Black women in American politics
• List of African-American United States Cabinet members
• List of African-American United States Senate candidates
• List of African-American United States senators
• List of female state attorneys general in the United States
• List of female United States Cabinet members
• List of female United States presidential and vice presidential candidates
• List of United States politicians of Indian descent
• List of United States senators from California
• Women in the United States Senate

• Johnson-Batiste, Stacey L. (2021). Friends from the Beginning: The Berkeley Village That Raised Kamala and Me. Twelve Books. ISBN 978-1-5387-0748-7.
• Morain, Dan (2021). Kamala's Way. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-3985-0485-1.

• Vice President Kamala Harris official website
• Official campaign website
• Senator Kamala D. Harris (2017–2021)

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Kamala Harris at On the Issues
• Kamala Harris at PolitiFact

v t e Kamala Harris
49th Vice President of the United States (2021–present) U.S. Senator from California (2017–2021) Attorney General of California (2011–2017) District Attorney of San Francisco (2004–2011)
Life and politics	Early life and career California Attorney General U.S. Senate career Justice for Victims of Lynching Act MORE Act Rent Relief Act Vice Presidency Biden transition White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Political positions
Elections	California District attorney 2003 2007 Attorney general 2010 2014 U.S. Senate 2016 Presidential 2020 campaign debates endorsements primaries 2024 campaign endorsements running mate selection convention debate election Vice presidential 2020 campaign selection convention debate election transition 2024 campaign
Bibliography	Smart on Crime Superheroes Are Everywhere The Truths We Hold
Public image	The 47th KHive "We did it, Joe!" "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?"
Family	P. V. Gopalan (maternal grandfather) Sharada Balachandran Orihuela (maternal cousin) Shyamala Gopalan (mother) Maya Harris (sister) Meena Harris (niece) Donald J. Harris (father) Doug Emhoff (husband) Ella Emhoff (stepdaughter) Tony West (brother-in-law)
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