Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Kamala Harris speaks during an economic forum in Las Vegas in April 2019. The US senator from California is now the vice president-elect.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
A young Harris is seen with her mother, Shyamala, in this photo that was posted on Harris’ Facebook page in March 2017. “My mother was born in India and came to the United States to study at UC Berkeley, where she eventually became an endocrinologist and breast-cancer researcher,” Harris wrote. “She, and so many other strong women in my life, showed me the importance of community involvement and public service.”
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Courtesy Kamala Harris
Harris and her younger sister, Maya, pose for a Christmas photo in 1968.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
Harris rides a carousel in this old photo she posted to social media in 2015. Her name, Kamala, comes from the Sanskrit word for the lotus flower. Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants and grew up attending both a Baptist church and a Hindu temple.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
From Kamala Harris/Twitter
Harris tweeted this photo of her as a child after referencing it during a Democratic debate in June 2019. During the debate, she confronted Joe Biden over his opposition many years ago to the federal government mandating busing to integrate schools. “There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school,” she tweeted. “That little girl was me.”
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
Harris got her bachelor’s degree from Howard University in Washington, DC.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
Harris graduates from law school in 1989. “My first grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson (left), came to cheer me on,” Harris said. “My mom was pretty proud, too.”
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Paul Sakuma/AP
Harris is joined by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, left, and the Rev. Cecil Williams, center, for a San Francisco march celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. in January 2004. Harris was the city’s district attorney from 2004 to 2011.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris speaks to supporters before a “No on K” news conference in October 2008. The San Francisco ballot measure Proposition K sought to stop enforcing laws against prostitution. It was voted down on election day.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
Harris looks over seized guns following a news conference in Sacramento, California, in June 2011. Harris became California’s attorney general in January 2011 and held that office until 2017. She was the first African-American, the first woman and the first Asian-American to become California’s attorney general.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris attends the Democratic Party’s state convention in February 2012.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris watches California Gov. Jerry Brown sign copies of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights in July 2012.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris speaks on the second night of the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
In May 2013, Harris and California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow place a wreath honoring Highway Patrol officers who were killed in the line of duty.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Jeff Chiu/AP
Harris officiates the wedding of Kris Perry, left, and Sandy Stier in June 2013. Perry and Stier were married after a federal appeals court cleared the way for California to immediately resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
From Kamala Harris/Twitter
Harris is flanked by her husband, Douglas Emhoff, and her sister, Maya. Next to Maya Harris is Maya’s daughter, Meena, and Maya’s husband, Tony West.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris receives a gift from supporters in January 2015, after she announced plans to run for the US Senate.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris speaks during a news conference in February 2015.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris, as a new member of the Senate, participates in a re-enacted swearing-in with Vice President Joe Biden in January 2017. She is the first Indian-American and the second African-American woman to serve as a US senator.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris talks with former US Sen. Bob Dole on Capitol Hill in January 2017.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris attends the Women’s March on Washington in January 2017.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris speaks to Fatima and Yuleni Avelica, whose father was deported, before a news conference on Capitol Hill in March 2017.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris greets a crowd at an event in Richmond, Virginia, in October 2017.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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In November 2017, Harris was among the lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee grilling Silicon Valley giants over the role that their platforms inadvertently played in Russia’s meddling in US politics.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
Harris and her husband attend a Golden State Warriors basketball game in May 2018.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris attends a rally with, from left, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom, and Newsom’s wife, Jennifer, in May 2018. Newsom won the election in November.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris speaks with US Sen. Cory Booker during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in September 2018.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Harris presses Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/AP
Harris arrives with staff for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2018.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris reads from her children’s book “Superheroes Are Everywhere” during a book signing in Los Angeles in January 2019. She also released a memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.”
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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A person holds a Harris poster during the Women’s March in Los Angeles in January 2019.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters
Harris holds her first presidential campaign rally in January 2019. She had announced her presidential bid a week earlier on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Edward M. Pioroda/CNN
Harris speaks during her CNN town-hall event, which was moderated by Jake Tapper in Iowa in January 2019.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Media members photograph Harris and the Rev. Al Sharpton as they have lunch at Sylvia’s Restaurant in New York in February 2019.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris confronts former Vice President Joe Biden, left, during the first Democratic debates in June 2019. Harris went after Biden over his early-career opposition to federally mandated busing.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Maddie McGarvey/The New York Times/Redux
Harris rides her campaign bus in Iowa in August 2019.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Adam Schultz/Biden for President
Harris and Biden greet each other at a Detroit high school as they attend a “Get Out the Vote” event in March 2020. Harris had dropped out of the presidential race a few months earlier.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Susan Walsh/AP
From left, Harris, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and US Sen. Cory Booker stand near a Capitol Hill statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass during a June 2020 event commemorating the life of George Floyd. Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed in police custody in Minneapolis.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Adam Schultz/Biden for President
Biden calls Harris from his Delaware home to inform her that she was his choice for vice president.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Adam Schultz/Biden for President
Harris and Biden sign paperwork to officially get on the ballot in all 50 states.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris delivers a speech as she formally accepts the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. “Let’s fight with conviction,” Harris said in her speech. “Let’s fight with hope. Let’s fight with confidence in ourselves and a commitment to each other. To the America we know is possible. The America we love.”
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
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Harris waves to supporters at a campaign event in Lakewood, Ohio, in October 2020.
Photos: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Harris and Biden are joined by their spouses after their victory speeches in Wilmington, Delaware, in November 2020.
CNN —
Here is a look at the life of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Birth date: October 20, 1964
Birth place: Oakland, California
Birth name: Kamala Devi Harris
Father: Donald Harris, an economics professor
Mother: Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a physician
Marriage: Douglas Emhoff (2014-present)
Education: Howard University, B.A. political science and economics, 1986; University of California, Hastings College of the Law, J.D., 1989
Religion: Baptist
First African-American, first woman and first Asian-American to become attorney general of California.
First South Asian-American attorney general in the nation.
First Indian-American and second African-American woman to serve as a senator.
First African-American woman to represent California in the Senate.
She is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.
Grew up attending a Black Baptist church and a Hindu temple.
Her name comes from the Sanskrit word meaning “lotus” flower.
1990-1998 – Serves as deputy district attorney for Alameda County, California.
1998 – Is named managing attorney of the Career Criminal Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
2004-2011 – District attorney of San Francisco.
2009 – “Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer” is published.
2011-2016 – Attorney general of California.
January 3, 2017-January 18, 2021 – Serves in the US Senate.
December 5, 2018 – Accepts the resignation of Larry Wallace, a senior aide, after accusations of harassment surface from the time that he worked with her at the California Department of Justice.
January 8, 2019 – Harris’ memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” and picture book, “Superheroes Are Everywhere,” are published.
January 21, 2019 – Announces she is running for president in a video posted to social media at the same time she appears on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
October 30, 2019 – In a memo to staff and supporters, Harris’ campaign manager says the campaign will cut staff and expenses to focus on strategy in Iowa. It will lay off staffers in her Baltimore headquarters and deploy staff from New Hampshire, Nevada and California to Iowa.
December 3, 2019 – Harris ends her 2020 presidential campaign.
March 8, 2020 – Harris endorses Joe Biden for president.
August 11, 2020 – Biden names Harris as his running mate, making her the first Black and South Asian American woman to run on a major political party’s presidential ticket.
November 7, 2020 – Days after the election on November 3, CNN projects Harris is elected vice president, making her America’s first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president.
January 20, 2021 – Is sworn in as vice president of the United States.
May 28, 2021 – Harris gives the commencement speech at the United States Naval Academy addressing the 2021 graduating class. She is the first woman to give a commencement speech at the school.
November 19, 2021 – Biden temporarily transfers power to Harris while he is under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy. Harris becomes the first woman with presidential power.
April 26, 2022 – The White House announces that Harris has tested positive for Covid-19. She is exhibiting no symptoms. She will isolate and work from the vice president’s residence.
