FALL 2024 ISSUE - Flipbook - Page 30
VP Kamala Harris
Historic Run for
the Presidency
K
amala Devi Harris
born October 20,
1964) is an American
politician and attorney
who is the 49th and
current vice president
of the United States
since 2021, under
President Joe Biden.
She is the orst female
vice president and
the
highest-ranking
female oïcial in U.S.
history, as well as the
orst African American and orst South Asian
American vice president. A member of the
Democratic Party, she served as a U.S. senator
from California from 2017 to 2021 and the
attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017.
Following the withdrawal of Joe Biden from
the presidential race, Harris has been described
as the presumptive nominee of the Democratic
Party in the 2024 presidential election.
Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated
from Howard University and the University of
California, Hastings College of the Law. She
began her law career in the oïce of the district
attorney (DA) of Alameda County, before being
recruited to the San Francisco DA9s Oïce and
later the city attorney of San Francisco9s oïce.
In 2003, she was elected DA of San Francisco.
She was elected attorney general of California
in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
Harris served as the junior U.S. senator from
California from 2017 to 2021; she defeated
Loretta Sanchez in the 2016 Senate election to
become the second African-American woman
and the orst South Asian American to serve in
the U.S. Senate.
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As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun
control laws, the DREAM Act and federal
legalization of cannabis, as well as healthcare
and taxation reform. She gained a national
proole for her pointed questioning of Trump
administration oïcials during Senate hearings,
including Trump9s second Supreme Court
nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential
nomination, but withdrew from the race before
the primaries. Biden selected her to be his
running mate, and their ticket went on to defeat
the incumbent president and vice president,
Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020
election. Harris and Biden were inaugurated on
January 20, 2021.
Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon
entering oïce, Harris played a crucial role as
president of the Senate with her power to cast
tie-breaking votes, helping pass bills such as
the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus
package and the Innation Reduction Act. After
Biden9s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential
election, Harris launched her own presidential
campaign with Biden9s endorsement. On
July 22, 2024, Harris secured enough nonbinding support from delegates to become the
presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.