About

Born on 20th Oct 1964, Kamala Harris is an attorney and American politician. She is a Democratic Party member who has been in service as California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017. Also, she is United States Junior Senator of California State. She joined her senatorial office in Nov 2017. She is among the Democrat candidates pursuing nomination to contest for presidential seat in 2020 election.

Oakland, California is the birthplace of Harris. She studied law at Howard University and Majored as a prosecutor in University of California, Hastings College of Law. From her studies, she received Howard University Honoree degree and also another from University of Southern California. During 1990s she worked in the District Attorney’s office of California. 9 years later, at San Francisco, City Attorney’s office. In 2004 she contested and won the election into becoming the San Francisco District Attorney.

In 2010 elections for Attorney General of California, Harris emerged victorious in that election. During her reelection in 2014, she gained victory by a much wider margin. She went on to contest in the senatorial election in 2016 and won over Loretta Sanchez in succeeding the Barbara Boxer an outgoing senator. She, therefore, became the first black woman in the senatorial seat and the third female senator of U.S. since attaining seat she has been on the frontline supporting de-scheduling of cannabis by the federal, Single-payer healthcare, supporting the dream act, the sanctuary cities and lowering the tax burden on the middle and working classes, instead raising the taxes on the wealthiest 1% and the large corporations of America.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtauPy8av9M&t=114s

Early Life

On 20th Oct 1964, Kamala Harris was born in Oakland California to form a mother with Indian origin and a father from Jamaican origin. Shyamala Gopalan, Harris mother, who was Tamil Indian scientist in breast cancer, emigrated to U.S. in 1960 from Madras, India in order to study her doctorate degree in endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley. While her father on the other end, emigrated from Jamaica to pursue studies in Economics at University of California, Berkeley. Harris has a sister whom both they share Sanskrit names that are derived from mythology of Hindus. This after their mother insisted that it will help in preservation of their cultural heritage. Harris, a slave owner descendant and identifies as black and Indian.

While growing up, she and her sister attended Black Baptist Church where both of them were choir members. Also they attended Hindu temple due to their mother origin. into the top of Indian Caste, Harris was born, while her mother from the Besant Nagar, was an upper Brahmin Class, from the Chennai Tamil Nadu neighborhood. Her mother bloodline has over 1000 years traceback. Harris mother was a feminist who was concerned that women doing laundry for her were domestic violence victims.

On her childhood, she often went to Chennai to visit her extended family. She had a diplomat Grandfather (P.V. Gopalan) whom she was very close to.

Harris was enrolled into kindergarten during Berkeley’s school on the second year of desegregation busing program. This program applied busing extensively in order to attempt a racial balance on all the public school in the city. She was often driven to school by a bus that had 95% white previously before the program.

At the age of 7 years, her parents divorced and the custody of Harris and her sister was granted to the mother. After the parents parted ways, the two sisters went to Palo Alto to visit their father during weekends. She said that kids in the neighborhood were discouraged from playing with them since they were black. When Harris turned 12 she moved with her mother and sister to     Montreal, Quebec in Canada for a position of research at McGill University’s Jewish General Hospital and Teaching.

During her teenage period, Harris co-founded six dancers, dance troupe that performed during fundraising and also at the Community center. She gained popularity among the students when she was at Westmount High School.

She had high school graduation in 1981 and enrolled at Howard University based in Washington D.C. She did a double major in economics and political science. While at Howard, she joined the debate team, joined school politics and was elected to the student council of liberal-arts. Also, she was on demonstrations fighting against apartheid.

Later, she went back to California, where she enrolled at Hastings College of the Law, a school of California University. And received Juris Doctor in 1989 from the University, in 1990 she was admitted to California State Bar to gain more social experience. She believed that the world is need of a prosecutor with more social awareness. The main reason why Harris pursued a law enforcement carrier was to be among those who are involved in final decisions in law.

Career

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney

Harris was employed in California as Alameda County Deputy District Attorney where she proved her ability to prosecute. As a prosecutor, she specialized in trials dealing with child abuse, a challenging choice of career. This is considering the juries are more likely to be the word of an adult than that of a child. 

According to Alameda District Attorney, Tom Orloff, “Harris has a good courtroom presence, a high success rate. She is a genuinely good person and her social values will work well in San Francisco.”

During the same period, Harris was engaging in teaching Advocacy skills at the University of San Francisco and Stanford.

District Attorney Assistance

She was appointed to serve as the assistant district attorney in Feb 1998 by Terence Hallinan, the District Attorney of San Francisco. She then became the Career Criminal Division chief, doing supervision over other five Attorneys. She also prosecuted criminal cases such as Burglary, Homicide, Sexual assault, and Robbery. And in particular, the three strike cases. As part of her professional qualities, she was noted for being “an excellent mentor”. She was also active in the 1999 Hallinan’s reelection even though she did quit eight months later.

City Attorney

Harris accepted a new job at the City Hall of San Francisco in Aug 2000. She was working for Louise Renne the elected City Attorney. She was hired to take the vacant place left by Katherine Feinstein when she went to become the Superior Court Judge after her appointment. Harris, therefore, ran the Serve Division of Family and Children, which was representing Domestic violence, Child abuse, Neglect cases, Building code enforcement and matters of public health.  According Louise Rennes, City attorney, opinion of Harris, “She will make the best DA this city has seen in years.”

District Attorney Campaign (2003)

After the clash, while working at Terence Hallinan’s office, Harris was very angry that she chose to run for the same office of Hallinan during his reelection in 2003. She started a methodological gathering of support by attending events on politics, other people campaign volunteering and gaining membership on the boards of nonprofits.

On the mid of 2002, the previous year to elections, she called her friend stepfather, Mark Buell. She explained to him her intention of contesting for the seat of District Attorney, against her former boss and a two-term incumbent. Buell wife, Susie Tompkins was a Democratic megadonor. Despite having doubts at first, Buel offered to help Harris as her finance chair. They prepared campaign committee that will see through that Harris gets the position.

Harris entered the election race in 2003, running against her former boss and the two-term incumbent. Despite the challenges and the resurgence of her past being used against her in the election race, she emerged a winner with 56.33%. This made her the first woman to be in charge of the San Francisco Office of District Attorney.

California Attorney General

2010 election

Harris announced her bid for California Attorney General on 12th Nov 2008. She was endorsed by Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, Barbara Boxer, and Dianne Feinstein during the nominations of Democratic Party primary. She emerged the winner on 8th June 2010 by securing 33.6 % of the total votes which were cast. Her competitors Alberto Torrico received 15.6 and Chris Kelly received 15.5%.

She, therefore, ran against Steve Cooley, District Attorney of Los Angeles County. On the night of elections, Cooley prematurely announced victor, but there were still more votes uncounted. On the 3rd of January 2010, Harris won by over 55, 000 votes, and she became the first female with Jamaica and India ancestry to become the California Attorney General.

2014 election

On February 2014, Harris announced her bid to run for reelection and also filled her paperwork. According to Debra Bowen, the state secretary of California, all the campaign finance of Harris had been gathered on the previous year. She was endorsed for reelection by Los Angeles Daily News, The Sacramento bee, and Los Angeles Times. During the election time on 4th Nov 2014, she won the seat against Ronald Gold from the Republican.

U.S. Senate

Election, 2016

After serving for 24 years as the United States Junior Senator, from California, Barbara Boxer announced her retirement intentions from the seat during her end of the term. Harris became the first of the candidates to announce her bid for the seat. According to media outlets, she would pursue the seat on a similar day that Lieutenant Governor of California, Gavin Newsom declared he won’t succeed boxer. Gavin is reportedly a close ally of Harris in politics. Officially, she launched her campaign on 13th January 2015.

Harris went on and participated on June 2016 primary elections, from which the top two candidates coming from any political party would face each other on the general election. After succeeding in the primaries, Harris was up against a fellow Democrat and a congresswoman, Loretta Sanchez in the main election. This was also the first time that a Republican failed to appear in the general election since the direct election of the senators in California began in 1914.

In the general elections in Nov 2016, Harris worn by 60% of the total votes cast, she managed to dominate all counties except four. After attaining the victory, the immigrants were promised protection from President Donald Trump policies.

Presidential Campaign 2020

Harris is under consideration as the potential frontrunner and top contender for the nomination of Democratic President. She has been quoted before on June 2018 as “not ruling it out”. As compared to other senators, she was noted to be spending more on the advertisements on Facebook. Another indication of a probable ran.

Harris then officially declared her bid on 21st Jan 2019. She expressed her intentions for U.S. presidential candidacy in the presidential election of 2020. Within 24 hours of announcement, she tied Bernie Sanders record on donations in 2016.  And this was after the announcement.

During her official launch, there was over 20, 000 attendance by people as per the estimate of the police. The event was organized in Oakland California, her own town. This happened on the 27th of Jan, 2019. After the Presidential Debate of the Democratic Party, her pols rose in the range of 6 to 9 points.

Net Worth

At 12, Harris and her parents moved to Montreal due to her mother’s job. When she was in high school, she had a target of being a lawyer, thus selected Howard University as the high learning institution for her undergraduate degree.

While at UC Hastings College she narrowed down her course in order to become a prosecutor. She did graduation in 1989, and she got a job at the office of district attorney in Alameda County. She worked there for 9 years after which she moved across the bay for a job at the office of district attorney in San Francisco.

She purchased a condo at that time for roughly $300, 000, which was in SoMa Neighborhood at the city. And this has turned out to be a smart move, as the Condo is currently worth roughly $900, 000. Harris then pursued a public office in 2003, where she got elected as San Francisco District attorney.

During that year, she earned over $140, 000. As per her tax return records, she was eligible for a pension from the San Francisco city due to her job. This has a worth of $250, 000 minimum amounts today. During 2010, she pursued the Attorney general office of California, which won, becoming the first woman who is black to hold that office.

As an attorney general, she was required to file her financial disclosure by the state. It required Harris to list some of the assets she owned but not all. Among the assets she listed in the document were $100 “gift box” and mug that she received from Stewart Resnick and Lynda, the California Billionaires’.

She received basketball tickets worth $450 in 2016, from Doc Rivers, the head coach of Los Angeles Clippers. They were small perks gifts but way back when Harris started as a District Attorney, she earned a roughly similar amount of money.

In 2014, Harris got married to Douglas Emhoff, a fellow attorney. This really bolstered her financial position. The two were introduced to each other by Chrisette Hudlin, Harris friend, who was also a public relations consultant. This was in 2013, a year before they got married.

During that time, Emhoff was divorced and had two children. He had a job as Venable firm Entertainment litigator in Los Angeles. He had acquired Whitwell Jacoby Emhoff, a practice he co-founded 7 years before. 

In the course of last 5 years, the couples have earned roughly $8.2 million, a big sum of it coming from Emhoff’s job in DLA Piper and Venable firm. The couples filed their tax jointly for the first time in 2014. At that time, they listed $1.3 million as their combined earnings. This was up from Harris $129,000 earnings she had made personally in the year before.

Due to the announcement of her candidature in 2015 elections running for Senate, a more detailed financial disclosure was made to the federal government by Harris. This time it was inclusive of the holdings she owned with her husband. This was worth between $1.5 and $4 million. After Harris announcements to run for senate her husband dropped a couple of stockholdings which were conflict-prone. They included companies such as Dominion Resources, Caterpillar, Medtronic, and             Monsanto.

As per today, the worth of their three homes in Washington D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles are jointly more than any other wealth they own. The homes have an estimated worth of $2.5 million, and this is after accounting all the debts. In the previous year, the couples earning was above $2 million.

Due to the incline of Harris profile, her personal earnings have also increased. In one of her recent disclosure of finances, there was over $550, 000 which she got from as advance payments from the publisher of her books, The Penguin Random House. One of her books “The Truth We Hold” which was launched in January had over 50, 000 copies sold. This was as per the NBD Bookscan tracking firm for books sales.

Also, she published the other two books, Smart on Crime: “A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer” This book highlights her views about the justice system of criminals. Another publication is “Superheroes Are Everywhere” children’s picture book. But their sales were not even close to “The Truths We Hold” book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXUsar7rwUM

Personal Life

Harris is wife to Douglas Emhoff, a California Attorney; they got married in 22nd Aug 2014, a year later after they first met. At that time, the two were introduced to each other by Chrisette Hudlin, Harris friend, who was a public relations consultant. This was in 2013, a year before they got married.

During that time, Emhoff was divorced and had two children. He had a job as Venable firm Entertainment litigator in Los Angeles. He had acquired Whitwell Jacoby Emhoff, a practice he co-founded 7 years before.

Harris has two stepchildren, a sister, Maya Harris, who is a political analyst at MSNBC, and a brother-in-law, Tony West, who works like the Uber general counsel. Tony is also a former senior official at United States Department of Justice. 

Harris dated Willie Brown from 1994 – 1995. Brown was the speaker of the California State Assembly, who also gave her appointments while they were dating at the California Medical Assistance Commission and the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board. During the time Brown and Harris were dating, it was noted that she had a steady influence on him, and he gifted her 1994 BMW, that she later traded in for a 1997 BMW model, a vehicle that she still owned in 2003. After the 1995 victory of mayor seat by Brown, Harris was referred to as “the first lady in waiting” by the press. However, when Brown was elected as the San Francisco Mayor, she terminated the relationship. But, despite that, she still credits Brown for giving her connection to the people with influence who came in handy in launching her career. And she currently refers to him as a friend and mentor.

After her studies, she received Howard University Honoree degree and also another from the University of Southern California. In defense of a commitment in the representation of ordinary supporters apart from the wealthy donors, she identifies as Baptist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXGXee3tD8A

Kamala Harris Quotes

Abortion

  • Endorsed Endorsed by EMILY’s list for pro-choice Democratic women. – Nov 2016
  • Keep federal funding for family planning clinics – Mar 2017
  • Opposes parental notification for abortions by minors – Nov 2016
  • Supports public funding for abortion services – Nov 2016
  • Access safe, legal abortion without restrictions – Mar 2017
  • Ban anti-abortion limitations on abortion services – Mar 2017
  • Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record – Dec 2010
  • Don’t limit abortions to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. – Jan 2019

Budget & Economy

  • $20B for struggling homeowners during mortgage crisis – Apr 2015
  • Prosecuted fewer foreclosure fraud cases than smaller states – Aug 2017
  • Economic numbers conceal more than reveal – Jun 2019

Civil Rights

  • Maintain LGBT health info on federal websites – Apr 2018
  • Eliminate the “gay panic” tactic for criminal defendants – Aug 2014
  • Ensure marriage equality for all Californians – Apr 2015
  • Fight for equal rights for all – Apr 2015
  • Judicial appointments should reject separate but equal – Apr 2018
  • Calling it “identity politics” marginalizes our issues – Aug 2018
  • Let transgender people access the bathroom of their choice – Jan 2019
  • Reparations for blacks should include HBCU and reforms – Feb 2019
  • Rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day – Feb 2019
  • Reparations mean real investments in black communities – Feb 2019

Corporations

  • New fees on banks and financial institutions – Jan 2019
  • Facebook is like a utility; needs to be regulated – May 2019
  • Why haven’t we asked how to pay for tax cuts to the top 1%? – Jun 2019
  • A new tax on banks with over $50 billion in assets – Jul 2019
  • Reverse the 2017 corporate income tax cut – Jul 2019

Crimes

  • Punish violent criminals, but understand they also need help – Jan 2019
  • Ex-felons re-enter society, instead of the broken justice system – Feb 2019
  • Federal and state moratorium on death penalty – Mar 2019
  • Private prisons are about profit, not dealing with crime – Apr 2019
  • Have a conversation on whether prisoners should vote – Apr 2019
  • Moratorium on death penalty; but defended it as AG – May 2019

Drugs

  • Back on Track: re-entry instead of incarceration for drugs – Apr 2015
  • Recognize the war on drugs was a failure – May 2015
  • Opioid crisis requires emergency mobilization – Jan 2019
  • Dismantle War on Drugs; start with marijuana legalization – Jan 2019
  • Legalize marijuana: it gives a lot of people joy – Feb 2019

Education

  • Took on Corinthian College, a for-profit college scam – Jan 2019
  • As a child, bused to desegregated school with mixed races – Jan 2019
  • Free tuition at four-year public colleges – Jan 2019
  • Federal money to subsidize teach pay raises – Mar 2019
  • Change rules on student debt: reduce interest, income-based – Apr 2019
  • Boost average teacher pay by $13,500 – May 2019

Energy & Oils

  • Climate change is a national security threat to America – Jan 2019
  • Don’t withdraw from the Paris climate accord – 2019
  • Climate change important, but not only issue – Jan 201
  • Restore Clean Power Plan and Clean Car Standards – Apr 2019
  • Green New Deal sets agenda for dealing with climate change – Apr 2019
  • Climate crisis represents an existential threat to our species – Jun 2019

Environment

  • Fight to protect our coast – Apr 2015
  • Prosecuted polluters for illegal dumping and air pollution – Aug 2017
  • 100% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters – Jan 2019
  • Develop new nuclear technologies – Jul 2019

Families & Children

  • Served as an attorney in Division on Children and Families – Apr 2015
  • Punish parents of chronically truant kids – Aug 2017
  • 2004: Performed same-sex marriage despite state ban – Jan 2019
  • Shut down brothels masquerading as massage parlors – Jan 2019
  • Sanctuary for prostituted youth so they can escape pimps – Jan 2019
  • Supports broad paid family and medical leave plans – Jul 2019

Foreign Policies

  • Two-state solution despite Israeli settlements on West Bank – Jan 2017
  • The way to keep us safe is NOT to keep outsiders out – Nov 2015
  • I value the importance of diplomacy; I value relationships – Mar 2019
  • The U.S. is stronger when working with allies – May 2019
  • We need to get back into Iran nuclear deal – Jun 2019
  • Trump embracing Korean & Russian dictators is a threat – Jun 2019

Free Trade

  • TPP doesn’t offer sufficient worker protections – May 2016
  • Consumers hurt by trade wars, while corporations benefit – Feb 2019
  • Trade agreements should address climate change – May 2019
  • Don’t use tariffs to pressure countries – Jul 2019
  • Demand changes to post-NAFTA agreement USMCA – Jul 2019

Government Reforms

  • Automatic voter registration for all citizens – Nov 2018
  • Statehood for the District of Columbia – Feb 2018
  • Mandate paper ballots – Jul 2019
  • Discuss eliminating the Electoral College – Jul 2019

Gun Control

  • We cannot tolerate society with our babies being slaughtered – Feb 2018
  • No reason we have assault weapons in civil society – Jan 2019
  • If Congress won’t pass gun laws, do it by executive action – Apr 2019
  • If Congress won’t act on guns, I will, by executive action – May 2019
  • Executive action on gun control if Congress won’t do it – Jun 2019

Health care

  • We pay more for prescriptions than abroad: they negotiate – Jan 2019
  • End private health insurance with Medicare for All – Jan 2019
  • Make healthcare fundamental right, not a privilege for wealthy – Feb 2019
  • Private insurance not victims under single-payer – Apr 2019
  • Supports Medicare for All, even undocumented aliens – May 2019
  • $5000 deductible demonstrates the flaws of the for-profit system – Jun 2019
  • Separate employment from healthcare, but not illegal – Jul 2019
  • Medicare-for-All with 10-year transition and private option – Jul 2019

Homeland security

  • Exempt Veterans Affairs from federal hiring freeze – Jan 2017
  • Champion a robust VA for our Veterans – Aug 2016
  • Domestic terrorism as national security priority – Apr 2017
  • Slash the defense budget – Jul 2019

Immigration

  • Welcome refugees and immigrants, instead of a border wall – Feb 2019
  • 2008: Supported SF policy reported arrested juveniles to ICE – Feb 2019
  • I disagreed with Obama on Secure Communities deportations – Jun 2019

Jobs

  • Raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hour – Jul 2019

Principles & Values

  • FactCheck: Constitutionally eligible to run for the presidency – Jan 2019
  • A president who leads with dignity, honesty, truth – Jun 2019
  • Trump should be prosecuted for obstruction of justice – Jul 2019

Social security

  • Oppose entitlement cuts; strengthen these safety nets – Aug 2016

Tax reforms

  • LIFT Act: $500 monthly tax credit for the eligible middle class – Jan 2019
  • A monthly tax credit would provide base income – Apr 2019
  • Tax credits for middle class & working families – May 2019

Technology

  • Smartphone videos force police brutality to be seen – Jan 2019
  • Update water infrastructure based on the Israeli model – Jan 2019         
  • Improve transportation infrastructure in rural communities – Mar 2019

War & Peace

  • Time for a political solution in Afghanistan – Jan 2019
  • Ok with Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory – Mar 2019
  • Bring the troops home from post-9-11 wars – Jul 2019

Welfare & Poverty

  • LIFT Act and Rent Relief: $42 billion to people in poverty – Jan 2019
  • Subsidies for Affordable Housing renters and homeowners – Jul 2019
  • Massively expand the EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) – Jul 2019