Kamala Harris Gets Democratic Nod for Vice President
Vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris
Credit: California Attorney General’s Office
On Aug. 11, 2020, the Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden, Jr., selected Senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate. Harris became the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be placed on the presidential ticket of a major political party.
Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California, on Oct. 20, 1964. In 1986, Harris received a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Howard University. In 1989, she earned a law degree from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
Harris began her career in 1990, when she became deputy district attorney for Alameda County, California. In 1998, she became the managing attorney of the Career Criminal Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. In 2000, she was named to lead the San Francisco City Attorney’s Division on Families and Children.
In 2003, Harris won election as San Francisco district attorney. She was reelected in 2007 and served through 2010. Her victory in the 2010 campaign for state attorney general marked the first time that a woman and—because of her mixed ethnicity—a person of African American and South Asian ancestry won the post. Harris took office in 2011. As attorney general, she gained attention for her work to combat transnational gangs and investigate banks that engaged in mortgage fraud. She was reelected in 2014 and served until 2017.
In June 2016, Harris finished first in California’s open primary for the U.S. Senate seat. As a U.S. senator, Harris has served on a number of committees, including the Judiciary Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence.
In January 2019, Harris began a campaign for her party’s 2020 nomination for president. She dropped out of the race in December 2019, while trailing her competitors in fundraising and in support in public opinion polls. Harris was expected to formally accept the vice-presidential nomination as part of the Democratic National Convention, beginning August 17.
