Kamala D Harris, born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, is an Indian-American politician and attorney.
Who has been serving as the 49th Vice-President of the United States since 2021 under President Joe Biden. A Democrat, Harris became the US presidential candidate in 2024, running against former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump after Joe Biden exited the race for the White House.
Harris is the daughter of immigrant parents. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was an Indian-born breast cancer researcher who arrived in the United States at 19 and earned her PhD degree the same year Kamala was born. Her father, Donald Harris, emigrated from Jamaica and became a professor of economics at Stanford University.
Growing up in a multicultural household in Berkeley, California, Harris was shaped by her parents’ activism in the civil rights movement. Both her parents were actively involved in marches and demonstrations during the 1960s, often bringing Kamala and her younger sister, Maya, along.
This early exposure to social justice issues profoundly influenced Harris’s later career choices. After her parents’ divorced when she was seven, Harris was primarily raised by her mother. Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington, DC, where she earned her undergraduate degree in political science and economics.
She then pursued her law degree at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and began her legal career as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, specialising in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. In 2004, Harris was elected District Attorney of San Francisco.
Her tenure was marked by a focus on criminal justice reform, including a programme to offer first-time drug offenders the chance to earn a high school diploma and find employment. This programme was later recognised as a model by the US Department of Justice.
Harris continued her rise in politics when she was elected Attorney General of California in 2010, making her the first woman and the first Black and South Asian American to hold the position. During her time as Attorney General, she fought corporate exploitation, securing a $20 billion settlement for California homeowners affected by the foreclosure crisis and defending consumer protection laws.
In 2017, Harris was sworn into the United States Senate. There, she gained national attention for her sharp questioning of two Supreme Court nominees while serving on the Judiciary Committee.
She also worked to keep the American people safe from foreign threats and crafted bipartisan legislation to assist in securing American elections while serving on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
On January 20, 2021, Harris was sworn in as Vice-President of the United States, making history as the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to hold the office.