Kamala Harris

Kamala Devi Harris ( KAH-mə-lə DAY-vee, born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She was the first female U.S. vice president, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She was also the first African-American and the first Asian-American vice president. She previously served as a United States senator representing California from 2017 to 2021 and as attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the party's nominee in the 2024 presidential election. 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 of Alameda County. Harris was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014. Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. 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 while asking pointed questions of officials in the first administration of President Donald Trump during Senate hearings, including Trump's second U.S. 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; their ticket defeated the incumbent Republican president and vice president, Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 presidential election. Presiding over an evenly split U.S. Senate upon entering office, she cast 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. In July 2024, after Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her presidential campaign with Biden's endorsement. She later became the nominee and selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate, but lost the election to Trump.

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