Kamala Harris

Change links
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris Vice Presidential Portrait.jpg
Official portrait (2021)
49th Vice President of the United States
Assumed office
January 20, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byMike Pence
United States Senator
from California
In office
January 3, 2017 – January 18, 2021
Preceded byBarbara Boxer
Succeeded byAlex Padilla
32nd Attorney General of California
In office
January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017
GovernorJerry Brown
Preceded byJerry Brown
Succeeded byXavier Becerra
27th District Attorney of San Francisco
In office
January 8, 2004 – January 3, 2011
Preceded byTerence Hallinan
Succeeded byGeorge Gascón
Personal details
Born
Kamala Devi Harris[a]

(1964-10-20) October 20, 1964 (age 58)
Oakland, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)
Douglas Emhoff (m. 2014)
ParentsDonald J. Harris
Shyamala Gopalan
RelativesHarris family
ResidenceNumber One Observatory Circle
EducationHoward University (BA)
University of California, Hastings (JD)
Signature
WebsiteCampaign website

Kamala Devi Harris (born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and lawyer. She is the 49th and current vice president of the United States, being the first female ever elected to this office. She served as a United States senator from California from 2017 until 2021.[2] Before she took the position of senator, Harris was the attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017.[3]

On January 21, 2019, Harris announced her candidacy for President of the United States in the 2020 election. She ended her campaign on December 3, 2019. After Joe Biden won the nomination, he picked Harris as his running mate for Vice President.[4] They won the election on November 7 and were inaugurated on January 20, 2021. This made Harris the highest ranking elected woman in American history. Harris is also the first Asian and African American vice-president.

Early life[change | change source]

Harris was born at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland, California.[5][6] She is Tamil Indian American and Jamaican American. Her parents are Shyamala Gopalan Harris (Chennai-born native Tamilian) and Donald Harris. Both Shyamala and Donald Harris studied at the University of California, Berkeley. Harris' parents divorced in 1971. In 1976, Harris moved to Canada with her mother and sister. Harris went to college at Howard University in 1986 and got a degree in political science.

Career[change | change source]

In 1989, Harris became a lawyer after studying at Hastings College of Law at the University of California. She worked in the office of the District Attorney of Alameda in 1990. In 1998, Harris left to work for the District Attorney’s office in San Francisco. In 2003, Harris became the District Attorney of San Francisco.

She worked as the Attorney General of California until 2017 when she became a senator for California.[7]

2016 Senate run[change | change source]

At the start of 2016, Harris said that she would attempt to become senator after Barbara Boxer said that she would not work as a senator for the next term. Harris won the position in 2016 and became a senator on January 3, 2017.[8]

2020 presidential campaign[change | change source]

Main article: Kamala Harris 2020 presidential campaign

On January 21, 2019, she officially announced her campaign for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election.[9] After months of falling polling numbers and low campaign money raised, she ended her campaign on December 3, 2019.[10]

On August 11, 2020, Biden picked Harris as his running mate. On November 7, the Biden-Harris ticket beat the Trump-Pence ticket making her the vice president-elect.[11][12][13]

Vice president[change | change source]

Harris being sworn in as vice president on January 20, 2021

After the election of Joe Biden as U.S. president in the 2020 election, Harris became Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2021.[14] 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.[15][16] She is also the second person of color to hold the post. The first was Charles Curtis, who was a Native American and member of the Kaw Nation.[17]

Harris cast her first of two tie-breaking votes on February 5, 2021. In February and March, Harris' tie-breaking votes in her role as President of the Senate were needed to pass the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package proposed by President Biden because no Republicans in the Senate voted for the package.[18][19]

In April 2021, Harris said that she was the last person in the room before President Biden decided to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and commented that the president was brave for making this "difficult decision".[20]

Biden put Harris in charge of immigration. Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico to see why there was an increase in immigration, mainly from Central America to the United States.[21] During her visit, she said "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".[22]

On November 19, 2021, Harris served as acting president from 10:10 am to 11:35 am while President Biden underwent a "routine colonoscopy".[23] Harris became the third vice president as well as the first female vice president to serve as acting president.[24][25]

Personal life[change | change source]

In 2014, Harris married lawyer Doug Emhoff. Emhoff and Harris have homes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.[26]

Awards and honors[change | change source]

In 2020, both Harris and Biden were named Time Person of the Year.[27]

Related pages[change | change source]

Notes[change | change source]

  1. ↑ At birth, it was Kamala Iyer Harris. It was corrected two weeks later.[1]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ Debolt, David (August 18, 2020). "Here's Kamala Harris' birth certificate. Scholars say there's no VP eligibility debate". The Mercury News. The MediaNews Group Inc.
  2. ↑ Wright, Jasmine; Duster, Chandelis (January 18, 2021). "Harris resigns from the Senate ahead of inauguration". CNN. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  3. ↑ Shenkman, Kenneth (2018). "Harris, Kamala". World Book Advanced. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris as his running mate". August 11, 2020.
  5. ↑ "What California Knows About Kamala Harris". North Coast Journal. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  6. ↑ "Here's Kamala Harris' birth certificate. Scholars say there's no VP eligibility debate". The Mercury News. 2020-08-18. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  7. ↑ Newsmakers (2017). "Kamala Harris". Student Resources In Context. Retrieved May 8, 2018.[permanent dead link]
  8. ↑ "Kamala D. Harris". Biography in Context. March 8, 2017. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  9. ↑ Reston, Maeve (January 21, 2019). "Kamala Harris to run for president in 2020". CNN.
  10. ↑ Cadelago, Christopher (December 3, 2019). "Kamala Harris drops out of presidential race". Politico. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  11. ↑ Zeleny, Jeff; Merica, Dan; Saenz, Arlette (August 11, 2020). "Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris as his running mate". CNN.
  12. ↑ "Joe Biden selects California Sen. Kamala Harris as running mate". tampabay.com. Associated Press. August 11, 2020. selecting the first African American woman and South Asian American to compete on a major party's presidential ticket
  13. ↑ Stafford, Kat (August 12, 2020). "Kamala Harris' selection as VP resonates with Black women". Associated Press. making her the first Black woman on a major party's presidential ticket ... It also marks the first time a person of Asian descent is on the presidential ticket.
  14. ↑ Tensley, Brandon; Wright, Jasmine (November 7, 2020). "Harris bursts through another barrier, becoming the first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president-elect". CNN. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  15. ↑ Horowitz, Juliana Menasce; Budiman, Abby (2020-08-18). "Key findings about multiracial identity in the U.S. as Harris becomes vice presidential nominee". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
  16. ↑ McEvoy, Jemima (2020-11-07). "Kamala Harris Makes History As First Female, Black, Asian American Vice President". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  17. ↑ Solender, Andrew (August 12, 2020). "Here Are The 'Firsts' Kamala Harris Represents With VP Candidacy". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 2, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020. Harris would not be the first person of color to serve as vice president. That honor belongs to Charles Curtis, President Herbert Hoover's No. 2.
  18. ↑ Segers, Grace (February 5, 2021). "Senate passes $1.9 trillion COVID relief resolution after all-night 'vote-a-rama'". CBS News.
  19. ↑ Singh, Maanvi; Greve, Joan E.; Belam, Martin; McKernan, Bethan; Levine, Sam (March 5, 2021). "Kamala Harris breaks Senate tie to begin Covid relief package debate – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  20. ↑ Allie Bice (April 25, 2021). "Harris says she had key role in Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal decision". Politico. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  21. ↑ Egan, Lauren (7 June 2021). "Harris takes first steps onto world stage, into migration spotlight". NBC News.
  22. ↑ Rodriguez, Sabrina (7 June 2021). "Harris' blunt message in Guatemala: 'Do not come' to U.S." POLITICO.
  23. ↑ Miller, Zeke (19 November 2021). "Biden to have routine colonoscopy, transfer power to Harris". Associated Press News. Bethesda: Associated Press. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  24. ↑ Feinberg, Andrew (19 November 2021). "'First woman president': Kamala Harris makes history when she briefly assumes powers of presidency during Biden procedure". The Independent. Washington, D.C. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  25. ↑ Pengelly, Martin (2021-11-19). "Kamala Harris takes on presidential role – briefly – as Biden has colonoscopy". the Guardian.
  26. ↑ Bose, Debanjali (October 12, 2020). "Take a Look inside Kamala Harris's multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio, which includes property in California and Washington, DC". Business Insider. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  27. ↑ Alter, Charlotte (December 11, 2020). "2020 Person of the Year - Joe Biden and Kamala Harris". Time. Retrieved December 11, 2020.

Other websites[change | change source]

Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kamala_Harris&oldid=8672158"