Kamala Harris - A woman with many firsts to her name in US history
Many of you already know about Kamala Harris as she needs no introduction.
But for some of you who don't know about the Vice President-elect of the United States, and her links with India, well here are some pointers:
Kamala Harris is the first woman, first Indian American, first Black, first South Asian American and the first Asian ever elected as vice-president of the United States.
Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California in the year 1964 on October 20, to a mother from India and a father from Jamaica.
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EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
CAREER
Kamala began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, before being recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.
She then became the chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide, burglary, robbery, and sexual assault cases – particularly three-strikes cases.
In August 2000, Harris took a new job at San Francisco City Hall, working for city attorney Louise Renne. Harris ran the Family and Children's Services Division representing child abuse and neglect cases.
In 2003, she was elected district attorney of San Francisco. She was elected attorney general of California in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
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HER CAREER IN POLITICS
In the year 2016, she defeated Loretta Sanchez in the Senate election to become the second African American woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the United States Senate.
As a senator, she has advocated for healthcare reform, federal de-scheduling of cannabis, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the DREAM Act, a ban on assault weapons, and progressive tax reform.
Later, Kamala gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault.
She ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and attracted national attention before ending her campaign on December 3, 2019.
On August 11, 2020 election, she was announced as former vice president Joe Biden's running mate.
She is the third female vice presidential running mate on a major party ticket after Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin, respectively.
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