
Vice President Kamala Harris is getting the spotlight as the Democratic Party seems to rally behind her as its 2024 nominee. Can you believe it? The woman on the national stage for less than a decade is now being hailed as their best bet.
Harris entered the national political scene in 2016 when she snagged a U.S. Senate seat in California. But her story goes back further, all the way to her days as the daughter of college professors and her early political maneuvers in California.
From Academia to Activism
Born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, Harris is the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants. Both her parents were college professors—her mother conducted research at the University of California, Berkeley, and her father worked at Stanford University. Her parents divorced when she was seven.
Harris attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., a historically black institution, where she interned for California Senator Alan Cranston and graduated in 1986 with a degree in economics and political science. She earned her law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in 1989 and stayed in California until she became vice president in 2021.
A Controversial Start in Politics
Harris’s political journey began with controversy while working as a deputy district attorney in the Oakland area. In 1994, she started dating Willie Brown, then-Speaker of the California Assembly, who was 30 years her senior and still married. Brown appointed Harris to two state boards, including the California Medical Assistance Commission, where she earned over $70,000 annually—a hefty sum back then. She missed about one in every five meetings during her tenure.
Despite the controversy, Harris moved on from Brown and her board appointments, continuing her career as a prosecutor in San Francisco. She was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2003, won reelection unopposed in 2007, and became California’s attorney general in 2010, a position she held until 2016.
Rising Star or Falling Comet?
Harris debuted nationally in 2017 when she replaced the retiring Senator Barbara Boxer. Her ascent continued when she announced her presidential run on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2019. Initially, her campaign showed promise, but it quickly unraveled. She surged briefly after attacking Joe Biden over his stance on public school busing in the 1970s but was soon called out by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for her record as a prosecutor. Gabbard accused Harris of putting over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations while laughing about her own use of the drug, blocking evidence that could have freed an innocent man, and keeping people in prison way past their sentences to use them as cheap labor.
Harris’s response was evasive, focusing on the need for a candidate who could rebuild the Obama coalition and take on President Donald Trump. However, she dropped out of the race in early December 2019, more than a month before the Iowa caucuses, amid reports of poor leadership and campaign infighting.
From VP to Presidential Hopeful
Biden chose Harris as his running mate after promising to select a woman, facing pressure to pick a black woman. They defeated Trump, and Harris became the first female vice president in January 2021. But her tenure has been rocky, marked by reports of disgruntled staff and high turnover.
Republicans are poised to paint Harris as a hard-left candidate, pointing to her co-sponsorship of the Green New Deal and support for a fracking ban. She also proposed the Climate Equity Act with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, requiring the government to consider the impact of environmental legislation on low-income communities.
Appointed by Biden to address the root causes of illegal immigration in 2021, Harris was dubbed the “border czar” by Republicans, yet illicit immigration has surged since then.
Democrats’ Optimism
Despite the challenges, Democrats see Harris as a strong contender. At 59, she’s two decades younger than Trump and has been vocal for abortion rights. She would make history as the first female president if elected.
Democratic strategist T.J. Rooney argues she has a better chance than Biden would have had. Her appeal to suburban voters and ability to challenge Trump could make her competitive in critical states like Pennsylvania.
So, will Harris be the Democrats’ savior or just another misstep? Only time will tell. But one thing’s for sure: the road to 2024 will be anything but boring.