Here is a look at the life of Kamala Harris, a US senator from California and 2020 presidential candidate.
Personal:
Birth date: October 20, 1964
Birth place: Oakland, California
Birth name: Kamala Devi Harris
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
Other Facts:
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.
Timeline:
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-present – 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.”
