Kamala Harris

Kamala D. Harris assumed office as vice president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2021, the first woman to serve in that office. Following President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 re-election campaign on July 21, 2024, Harris announced her candidacy for president. On August 2, she announced that she had secured enough votes from Democratic Party delegates to win the party’s nomination. After a 107-day campaign, Harris lost in the general election to Donald Trump.

Harris was the first Indian American to serve as a U.S. senator and only the second Black female in the U.S. Senate. In January 2019, she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States but withdrew from the race in December 2019. In August 2020, she was chosen by presumptive presidential nominee Joseph Biden to serve as his running mate, making her the first African American, the first Asian American and the third female vice-presidential running mate on a major party ticket.

Born on Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, Harris received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and economics from Howard University in 1986 and her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1989. From 1990 to 1998, Harris served as a deputy district attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney's office. In 1998, she joined the San Francisco District Attorney's office, and she later served as the head of the San Francisco City Attorney's Division on Children and Families.

In 2003, Harris was elected district attorney of San Francisco, serving until 2011, when she became attorney general, serving in that position until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. She was the first woman and the first African American attorney general in California, and served until her election as U.S. vice president in 2021.

For information on Harris' policy subject areas, committee appointments and sponsored/co-sponsored legislation during her time in the U.S. Senate, please visit her profile on https://www.congress.gov.

McNamee, G. L. (2019, Dec. 16). Kamala Harris: United States Senator. In Britannica. Retrieved on Feb. 5, 2020 from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamala-Harris.

United State House of Representatives. Harris, Kamala Devi. Retrieved on Feb. 5, 2020, from https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/H/HARRIS,-Kamala-Devi-(H001075).