Kamala Devi Harris (KAH-mə-lə; born October 20, 1964)[1][2] is an American politician and attorney. She was the 49th vice president of the United States under Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She was also the first Black and the first South Asian vice president. Harris was the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.[3]
She was a candidate for president in the 2020 election. She suspended her campaign in December 2019 after raising low campaign funds. After Joe Biden won the nomination, he picked Harris as his running mate for vice president.[7]
Harris alongside her sister as she takes the oath of office as attorney general
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 became the California attorney general in 2011 and served in this role until 2017 when she became the U.S. senator for California.[14]
U.S. Senate
Harris takes oath of office by then-Vice President Joe Biden, January 2017
At the start of 2016, Harris said that she would attempt to become senator of California 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.[15]
On January 21, 2019, she officially announced her campaign for president in the 2020 presidential election.[16] After months of falling polling numbers and low campaign money raised, she ended her campaign on December 3, 2019.[17]
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.[18][19][20]
Vice President of the United States
Harris alongside her husband as she takes the vice presidential oath of office
Harris was sworn-in by Associate JusticeSonia Sotomayor as the 49th vice president of the United States on January 20, 2021.[21] She is the first female vice president in the United States, the highest-ranking female elected official in U.S. history, and the first Indian Asian-American vice president.[22][23] 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.[24]
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.[25][26]
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".[27]
Harris delivering a speech
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.[28] 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".[29]
On September 24, 2021, Republican United States Representative Lauren Boebert introduced a resolution to impeach Harris over her support for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.[30] On November 19, 2021, Harris served as acting president from 10:10 am to 11:35 am while President Biden underwent a "routine colonoscopy".[31] Harris became the third vice president as well as the first female vice president to serve as acting president.[32][33]
On June 12, 2023, Republican Representative Andy Ogles introduced a resolution to impeach Harris for the Biden administration's handling of security at the United States–Mexico border. It is co-sponsored by Republicans Lauren Boebert and Mary Miller.[34]
In December 2023, Harris broke the record for the most tie-breaking votes cast by a vice president casting her 32nd vote, passing John C. Calhoun, who cast 31 votes during his nearly eight years as vice president, in less than half the time.[35][36]
On July 23, 2024, Republican Representative Andy Ogles introduced a second resolution to impeach Harris for the betrayal of the public trust for not removing Joe Biden from office and failing in her duties as “border czar.”[37][38]
On January 6, 2025, in one of her last duties as vice president, Harris oversaw the official certification of Trump's election win.[39]
In the first 24 hours of her candidacy, her campaign raised $81 million in small-dollar donations, the highest single-day total of any presidential candidate in history.[45] Her campaign was largely centered around opposing Trump and his policies. Harris supported left-wing policies such as abortion rights, LGBT rights, gun control, immigration, and a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. By August 5, she had officially won the nomination and the next day, she announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate.[46]
On September 10, Harris and Trump had a debate on television. It was widely-considered by the media that Harris won the debate, partly due to Trump making numerous factually incorrect statements.[47][48][49] Trump declined another debate with Harris. Her campaign utilised the media in several ways, such as television appearances of Harris (including an appearance on Saturday Night Live) and the use of TikTok, with an account titled "Kamala HQ", which engaged in various internet trends such as the "brat" trend, which was started by singer Charli XCX's album of the same name.[50][51][52]
On November 5, Harris and Walz lost the general election to the Trump-Vance ticket.[53][54] With around 75 million votes, Harris received the third-highest amount of votes of any presidential nominee in US history, as well as the most votes of any losing candidate. She gave a speech to her supporters the day after her loss.
Major reasons for her loss have been said to include: the fact she entered the race late (only after the withdrawal of Biden) and the fact that she did not convince voters that she would provide different leadership than Biden.[55][56] If elected, she would have been the first female and first Asian-American president of the United States, and first Jamaican-American.[57]
Post-vice presidency (2025–present)
Harris left office of vice president on January 20, 2025, when Trump became the 47th president. It is currently unclear what Harris will do next, but it is speculated that she may run for president again in 2028 or run for California governor in 2026.[58]
The third-highest amount of votes received by a US presidential nominee (as well as the most votes of a female nominee and a losing nominee). Only Joe Biden in 2020 and Donald Trump in 2024 received more votes than Harris.
Notes
↑Cite error: The named reference fn1 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
↑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.
↑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.
↑Parnes, Amie; Samuels, Brett; Conradis, Brandon (August 6, 2024). "Harris picks Walz for vice president". The Hill. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
1 The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent.
[1][2]
4 The U.S. Census Bureau considers Mongolians and Uzbeks as Central Asians,[6] but a specific Central Asian American group similar to Middle Eastern American does not yet exist.[7]
5 The U.S. Census Bureau reclassifies anyone identifying as "Tibetan American" as "Chinese American".[8]
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