Biographies Kamala Harris

(Kamala Devi Harris)

born October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California

US politician and attorney, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, Vice President of the United States (2021 -2025), US Senator from California (2017-2021), Attorney General of California (2011-2017), District Attorney of San Francisco (2004-2011)

60th birthday on October 24, 2024

Biography • Weblinks • Literature & Sources

Biography

Kamala Harris has set many records: as vice president of the United States, she is the first woman, first black and first Asian American. As district attorney of San Francisco and as California Attorney General, she was the first woman and the first person of color. Harris was the second black female and first Asian American senator. The one-time “tough on crime” prosecutor has also maintained her commitment to work “for the people.” She obtained major debt relief from fraudulent banks for embattled homeowners, implemented anti-bias training programs for police and devised first-of-a-kind educational programs for non-violent offenders. As senator Harris drew attention for her sharp questioning of Trump’s Attorney Generals Jeff Sessions and William Barr and his nominee to the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh. As vice president, given the evenly divided senate, Harris cast more tie-breaking votes in one year than any other vice president in US history.

Kamala Harris’ mother Shyamala Gopalan came to the US from India to study at the University of California in Berkeley. She met her husband, Donald Harris, a graduate student from Jamaica and later professor of economics, at a civil rights demonstration – both were committed activists. Although her parents divorced when Kamala was seven, her mother raised Kamala and her younger sister Maya as part of the black community of Berkeley. “My mother  ….  knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.” The girls were exposed early to leading black activists and intellectuals such as Shirley Chisholm, Alice Walker and Maya Angelou, all of whom spoke at their local African American cultural center. From kindergarten on, Kamala was bussed to a school in a predominantly white neighborhood, as part of Berkeley’s program in school desegregation. 

Harris chose to attend Howard University, one of America’s “historically black universities,” and graduated in 1986 with a degree in political science and economics. She then returned to California to study law and qualify for a legal career. After serving as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, she was recruited to be an assistant district attorney for the city of San Francisco. 

In 2002 Harris mounted a forceful campaign against the incumbent to become the first district attorney of color of San Francisco, serving until 2011. She was particularly tough on gun-related crime, achieving a 90 per-cent conviction rate for all felony gun violations. She also created a Hate Crimes Unit which focused on hate crimes against LGBT children and youth in schools. In 2004 Harris created “Back on Track,” the first anti-recidivism program in the US. By completing a rigorous educational and service program, first-time non-violent offenders between 18 and 30 could clear their records. The successful program was endorsed by the National District Attorneys Association as a model and implemented in other cities. Harris also developed an anti-truancy policy to encourage families to keep their children attending school regularly.

With widespread support from prominent California Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein, Harris ran for state attorney general and was elected in 2010. She scored a major victory against big banks, which had cheated thousands of homeowners in the wake of the mortgage crisis of 2010, securing over 18 billion dollars in debt relief. Some have criticized her for a mixed record on criminal justice issues. Her office’s handling of over-incarceration, the death penalty, and wrongly incarcerated people were among the several issues in which Harris, by and large, maintained the status quo and did not continue her earlier progressive innovations. On the other hand, she did introduce a “first-of-its-kind” program to train law enforcement personnel in implicit bias and reduce use of excessive force. Moreover, under her leadership, California’s Department of Justice became the first in the nation to require police officers to wear body cameras. 

In 2016 Kamala Harris defeated Loretta Sanchez to become junior senator from California. Senator Harris was an aggressive questioner and critic of Trump appointees, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who complained that her relentless questioning of him made him “nervous.” She vigorously opposed Trump’s “Muslim ban” and family border separation policy. She served on the Senate Judiciary Committee, among others, and co-sponsored a bipartisan bail reform bill with Senator Rand Paul. 

In January 2019 Kamala Harris announced her candidacy to become president of the United States. After a promising start in the large field of candidates she ended her campaign when her ranking and financial support began to sink. Candidate Joe Biden had promised to name a woman as his running mate, and he tapped Harris for the spot. With their inauguration in 2021 Kamala Harris became the highest-ranking female elected official in U.S. history.

Harris married attorney Doug Emhoff in 2014. They have two children from his first marriage.
(Text from 2023)

Update 2024: On July 21, 2024, President Biden renounced his presidential candidacy and proposed Vice President Harris as his successor. 

Author: Joey Horsley

Links

Goodyear, Dana. 2019. “Kamala Harris Makes Her Case”. In: The New Yorker. 15. Juli 2019 (in der Print-Ausgabe erschienen am 22. Juli 2019 unter dem Titel “First Person”).
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/22/kamala-harris-makes-her-case (Aug. 2, 2024)

Lopez, German. 12.08.2020. Kamala Harris’s controversial record on criminal justice, explained. Washington, D.C. - New York. Vox Media.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/23/18184192/kamala-harris-president-campaign-criminal-justice-record (Aug. 2, 2024)

Tito Handyanto, Nandika & Yasinta, Siti & Nora, Madelyn & Aghna, Muhammad. (2022). The Influence of Kamala Harris in Increasing Women's Political Participation in the Parliament of the United States of America. Berlin, ResearchGate.
(Aug. 2, 2024)

Kamala Harris. The Vice President. The Biden-Harris Administration. The White House. Washington, DC.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice-president-harris/ (Aug. 2, 2024)

Rothberg, Emma. “Kamala Harris”. National Women’s History Museum. 2020.
http://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/kamala-harris. (Aug. 2, 2024)

McNamee, G. Lewis (2024, August 2). Kamala Harris. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamala-Harris (Aug. 2, 2024)

Literature & Sources

Harris, Kamala. 2019. The Truths We Hold. An American Journey. London, Penguin. 

Harris, Kamala. 2019. Superheroes Are Everywhere. London, Penguin Young Readers Group. 

Harris, Kamala; O'C. Hamilton, Joan (2009). Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer. San Francisco, Chronicle Books. 

Morain, Dan. 2021. Kamala’s Way: An American Life. New York NY. Simon & Shuster (Kindle
Edition).

Sánchez Vegara, María Isabel. 2022. Kamala Haarris. Little People, Big Dreams. Berlin. Suhrkamp.

Maupin, Caleb. 2020. Kamala Harris & The Future of America: An Essay in Three Parts. Independently published.

McDean, Sally. 2024. V.P. Harris vs. Trump. 2024 U.S. ELECTION: Exploring Kamala's Strength, The Possibilities Of Being A Candidate And Winning Trump If Biden Passes The Torch To Her. Independently published.

Harris, Meena. Ramírez González, Ana. 2020. Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea. New York, Balzer + Bray.

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