Kamala Harris’ Indian roots and why they matter
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
US Sen. Kamala Harris speaks during an economic forum in Las Vegas in April 2019.
Hide Caption
1 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Hide Caption
2 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris and her younger sister, Maya, pose for a Christmas photo in 1968.
Hide Caption
3 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Hide Caption
4 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Hide Caption
5 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris got her bachelor’s degree from Howard University in Washington, DC.
Hide Caption
6 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.”
Hide Caption
7 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
8 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
9 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
10 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris attends the Democratic Party’s state convention in February 2012.
Hide Caption
11 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris watches California Gov. Jerry Brown sign copies of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights in July 2012.
Hide Caption
12 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris speaks on the second night of the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Hide Caption
13 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
14 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
15 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
16 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris receives a gift from supporters in January 2015, after she announced plans to run for the US Senate.
Hide Caption
17 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris speaks during a news conference in February 2015.
Hide Caption
18 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
19 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris talks with former US Sen. Bob Dole on Capitol Hill in January 2017.
Hide Caption
20 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris attends the Women’s March on Washington in January 2017.
Hide Caption
21 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris speaks to Fatima and Yuleni Avelica, whose father was deported, before a news conference on Capitol Hill in March 2017.
Hide Caption
22 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris greets a crowd at an event in Richmond, Virginia, in October 2017.
Hide Caption
23 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
24 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris and her husband attend a Golden State Warriors basketball game in May 2018.
Hide Caption
25 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
26 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris speaks with US Sen. Cory Booker during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in September 2018.
Hide Caption
27 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris presses Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.
Hide Caption
28 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris arrives with staff for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2018.
Hide Caption
29 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.”
Hide Caption
30 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
A person holds a Harris poster during the Women’s March in Los Angeles in January 2019.
Hide Caption
31 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
32 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris speaks during her CNN town-hall event, which was moderated by Jake Tapper in Iowa in January 2019.
Hide Caption
33 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Media members photograph Harris and the Rev. Al Sharpton as they have lunch at Sylvia’s Restaurant in New York in February 2019.
Hide Caption
34 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Hide Caption
35 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Harris rides her campaign bus in Iowa in August 2019.
Hide Caption
36 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
37 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
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.
Hide Caption
38 of 39
Vice presidential pick Kamala Harris
Biden calls Harris from his Delaware home to inform her that she was his choice for vice president.
Hide Caption
39 of 39