By Louis Jacobson and Chris Nichols for Politifact
Editor's Note: This story is part of PolitiFact's coverage of the 2020 presidential campaign; These reports will be updated as the campaign progresses. To view more candidate profiles and fact check, visit www.politifact.com/2020/
Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris - elected on Tuesday as Joe Biden's running mate - is relatively new to the national scene, but has quickly made the administration of President Donald Trump known for her tough questions.
In his presidential campaign, he emphasized increasing teacher pay, improving health coverage, tightening gun regulations, and paying equity.
Harris - whose first name derives from Sanskrit - was born in Oakland, California, in 1964, the daughter of two immigrants, a medical scientist from India and an economist from Jamaica . She would become the first black woman and the first person of Indian descent to join a presidential ticket for one of the two major parties.
Harris grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Berkeley, where his parents used to join the civil rights protests. They separated when she was 5 years old. At 12, Harris moved with her mother and sister to Montreal for several years, after her mother landed a research job there.
In this Oct. 2, 2019 file photo, Kamalah Harris, then a Democratic presidential hopeful, attends a gun control forum in Las Vegas, Nevada. AP
Harris earned her bachelor's degree from Howard University and her law degree from the University of California in 1989. She served as a prosecutor in Alameda County (Oakland) and San Francisco, then was elected attorney for the San Francisco District in 2003 and 2007. In 2010, she was elected California attorney general and was then reelected in 2014.
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Since winning his Senate seat in 2016, Harris has spoken out against Trump's border wall proposal and his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. Harris supports a $ 15 minimum wage, is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal , has published plans to improve teacher compensation and eliminate pay inequity, also supports universal background checks and a "ban on assault weapons."
He has said he is in favor of 'Medicare for All' but has made conflicting statements about whether this would mean eliminating private health insurance.
Perhaps her biggest obstacle in the presidential race has been her criminal justice record , as the party base has moved to the left since she was prosecuting criminals. Harris worked to reduce recidivism, eliminate biases in law enforcement, and - to widespread controversy - did not seek the death penalty for a man suspected of killing a police officer.
However, as attorney general in 2016, he opposed a bill that required his office to investigate police shootings and declined to comment on state ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana and reduce penalties for non-violent crimes. And despite personally opposing the death penalty, Harris defended it in court as attorney general.
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This Feb. 16, 2012 file photo shows former President Barack Obama (right) with Kamala Harris, then California Attorney General, in San Francisco.Hearst Newspapers via Getty Imag
Name : Kamala Harris.
Current Occupation: United States Senator from California.
Party : Democratic Party.
Federal Offices : Elected to the United States Senate in 2016.
Key Votes : Voted Against Trump's Tax Bill, 2017; against efforts to reform the Affordable Care Act in 2017; and against the Supreme Court nominations of Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
State and Local Offices : Alameda County and San Francisco County Attorney, 1990-2003; San Francisco District Attorney elected, 2004-2011; elected California Attorney General, 2011-2016.
Work in the private sector : None.
Military : None.
Written Books : The Truths We Hold: An American Journey (2019); Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer (2009).
Education: Howard University, BA .; University of California Hastings School of Law. JD
Date of birth : October 24, 1964.
Personal life : Douglas Emhoff (husband); two adult stepchildren.
Religion : Baptist.
Main topics : education, especially teacher salaries; pay equity; criminal justice; health care; climate change; immigration.
Who supports it? : California Governor Gavin Newsom and Congressmen Ted Lieu, Nanette Díaz Barragán, Katie Hill, Barbara Lee.
Top Donors : Harris's top five donor affiliations during his Congressional career have been the University of California, WarnerMedia Group, Alphabet Inc. (Google), the Venable LLP law firm, and 21st Century Fox.
