Kamala Harris Inspiring Woman

Kamala Harris Sweetrocks Inspiring Woman

Kamala Harris is an American politician and former prosecutor serving as the junior United States senator from California since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Harris is the Democratic vice presidential nominee for the 2020 election, running alongside former Vice President Joe Biden. She is the first African American and first Asian American to be chosen as the running mate of a major party’s presidential candidate.

Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She double-majored in political science and economics (B.A. 1986), interned as a mailroom clerk for California Senator Alan Cranston, chaired the economics society, led the debate team, demonstrated against apartheid, and joined Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Harris returned to California, where in 1989 she earned her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.She passed the bar examination and gained admission to the State Bar of California on June 14, 1990.

Kamala began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office before being recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and later the City Attorney of San Francisco’s office. In 2003, she was elected the 27th district attorney of San Francisco, serving until 2011.

Harris was narrowly elected Attorney General of California in 2010, and was re-elected in 2014. She faced criticism from reformers for tough-on-crime policies she pursued while she was California’s attorney general. In November 2016, she defeated Loretta Sanchez in the 2016 Senate election to succeed outgoing Senator Barbara Boxer, becoming California’s third female senator, the second African-American woman and the first South Asian–American to serve in the United States Senate. As a senator, she has supported healthcare reform, federal de scheduling of cannabis, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the DREAM Act, a ban on assault weapons, and progressive tax reform. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including U.S. attorneys general Jeff Sessions and William Barr, and Associate Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

In 2005, the National Black Prosecutors Association awarded Harris the Thurgood Marshall Award. That year, she was featured along with 19 other women in a Newsweek report profiling “20 of America’s Most Powerful Women”. In 2006, Harris was elected to the National District Attorneys Association’s Board of Directors as vice president and appointed to co-chair its Corrections and Re-Entry Committee. She was also selected to co-chair the California District Attorneys Association’s sex crimes committee. Harris was also selected to serve as a Rodel Fellow with The Aspen Institute. That same year, Howard University awarded Harris its Outstanding Alumni Award for “extraordinary work in the fields of law and public service”. In 2007, Ebony named her one of the “100 Most Influential Black Americans”. In 2008, she was named an Attorney of the Year by California Lawyer magazine. A New York Times article published later that year also identified her as a woman with potential to become President of the United States, highlighting her reputation as a “tough fighter”

In 2010, California’s largest legal newspaper The Daily Journal designated Harris as a top 100 lawyer and top 75 women litigators in the state.In 2013, Time named Harris as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”. In 2016, the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center awarded Harris the Bipartisan Justice Award along with Senator Tim Scott. In 2018, Harris was named the 2018 recipient of the ECOS Environmental Award for her leadership in environmental protection.

Harris ran for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 election, briefly becoming a front runner before ending her campaign on December 3, 2019, citing a lack of funds to continue. She was announced as Joe Biden’s running mate for the 2020 United States presidential election on August 11, 2020, becoming the third major party female U.S. vice presidential nominee.

Thank you Kamala Harris (#KamalaHarris) for being an Inspiring Woman!