The California US Senator Kamala Harris is fighting for the Democrats for the White House as a vice-presidential candidate alongside Joe Biden.
Kamala Harris
was born in California in 1964.
In the 2020 US presidential election campaign, the
Senator
will stand
alongside
Joe Biden
as a
vice
-presidential candidate
.
She is the first black woman with Afro-Caribbean roots to aspire to this office.
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Update from November 8th, 2020:
Kamala Harris
has achieved what no one has before her.
After days of waiting for a result in the
US election, it
is now clear: she will be the
first female vice president of
the United States.
Together with the next President,
Joe Biden
, she will now
direct
the fortunes of the
USA
.
Harris is not only the first female vice president, but also the first African American to serve.
While she was jogging, the good news reached her.
Of course, she spoke to her boss
Biden
on the phone
to congratulate him.
“We did it Joe!
You will be the next President of the United States, ”she congratulated him.
Harris
shared a video of this
on Instagram.
Check out this post on Instagram
We did it, @JoeBiden.
A post shared by Kamala Harris (@kamalaharris) on Nov 7, 2020 at 9:27 am PST
Kamala Harris: aspiring hope for the US Democrats
First report from October 14, 2020:
Washington, DC -
Kamala Harris was
born on October 20, 1964 to an Indian Tamil woman and a Jamaican in Oakland, California.
Until the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party,
Joe Biden
, officially as his "running mate" in August 2020 - his
vice presidential candidate
- imagined, she had a remarkable political career behind her.
And that was clearly shaped by their
origins
.
Kamala Harris: Origin and Family
Kamala Harris
' mother, the breast cancer researcher
Shyamala Gopalan
, emigrated to America from India in 1960.
Her father,
Donald J. Harris
, an
economics professor
, came to the United States from Jamaica.
In the 1960s, the years of student protests, the two of them pushed Kamala Harris across the Berkeley University campus in a stroller.
When she was seven years old, her parents separated.
Kamala and her sister
Maya Harris
grew up with their mother, initially in Montreal, Canada, where Shyamala Gopalan Harris had a research assignment.
Oakland later became the
family center again
.
The religious imprint of the two girls consisted of Baptist and Hindu elements.
Kamala Harris says that she owed her fighting spirit to her mother, who was active as a civil rights activist: “My mother made us strong women.” She taught her daughters: “Don't just sit around and complain.
Do something! "
Kamala Harris has been married to the Jewish lawyer
Douglas Emhoff
since 2014,
and he brought two children into the marriage.
According to him, his wife's professional success is based on her political commitment as well as on her multicultural background.
This also makes her popular with the non-African American electorate.
Kamala Harris: Degree and first position as a public prosecutor
Kamala Harris
studied political science and economics in Washington, then law in San Francisco.
She was admitted to the bar in 1990 and began her career as a contentious public prosecutor.
In 2003, Harris, a member of the US Democratic Party, was elected San Francisco's first female district attorney.
In 2007 she was unanimously re-elected.
Her style was not always undisputed: in the election campaign, she had ruled out ever to seek the death penalty.
When she
adhered
to
the case of the police killer
Isaac Espinzo
, she incurred the displeasure of the police
unions
.
At the same time, she turned the left in her own party against her.
Her law-and-order policy did not go down well in liberal California: Kamala Harris voted for parents of chronic truants to be punished with up to a year in prison.
Kamala Harris: Career as Attorney General
In 2010,
Kamala Harris
ran
for the vacant position of
Attorney General
of California and successfully beat six applicants.
On January 3, 2011, she was sworn in as Attorney General.
In the USA, this office is a combination of attorney general and attorney general. Here, too, Kamala Harris took on the role of pioneer: She was not only the first female occupation of this position, but also the first person with an Indian and African American background.
In 2014, as Attorney General, she appealed against a verdict that ruled the death penalty unconstitutional.
The party left in particular still blames them today for the fact that without this objection the death penalty in California would not have been abolished in March 2019, but in 2014.
It is noteworthy that Kamala Harris is privately seen as an opponent of the death penalty.
In September 2014, Kamala Harris was briefly
traded
as a possible successor to US Attorney General
Eric Holders
.
However, President
Barack Obama
chose
Loretta Lynch
.
Kamala Harris, on the other hand, was re-elected as Attorney General and began her second term in January 2015.
Kamala Harris: US Senator for the State of California
In early 2015,
Kamala Harris
announced
her candidacy for the US Senate.
It was supported by a broad base of the Democrats.
Among other things, the then US President
Barack Obama
- whom she had supported in his presidential candidacy - and his Vice President
Joe Biden
spoke out in
favor of her as
senator
.
The primary elections in California were won by the two Democrats,
Loretta Sanchez
, who was assigned to the political center, and Kamala Harris, who represented the progressive wing.
In the Senate election in November 2016, Kamala Harris was able to gather 62.6 percent of all voters behind him.
As the second colored woman, she entered the US Senate in January 2017.
At the time they were sworn in, there were exactly three African American US senators.
Analytical, razor-sharp, unyielding
Right at the start of her career as a
senator
, Kamala Harris resolutely took the lead in the opposition to President
Donald Trump's
immigration policy
.
She also made a name for herself through her merciless and razor-sharp appearances at Senate hearings:
At the
2017
Justice Secretary
Rod Rosenstein
hearing
regarding
Trump's
dismissal of FBI Director
James Comey
, Republicans urged her to ask more politely.
In 2018 she subjected Trump's controversial candidate for the Supreme Court,
Brett Kavanaugh
, to a precise, almost inquisitorial questioning.
With this interrogation she became known to a wide public.
In 2019, Justice Minister
William Barr
evaded
her questions about the final report by special investigator
Robert Mueller
in the context of the Russia affair.
She then suggested that he resign from his position.
Kamala Harris: 2020 presidential candidacy
Again and again,
Kamala Harris
was traded as a possible US presidential candidate for the Democrats.
When she finally announced her candidacy in 2019, she was initially considered a favorite over her competitors
Joe Biden
,
Bernie Sanders
and
Elizabeth Warren
.
In the course of the primary campaign, she clashed with Joe Biden several times, whom she accused, among other things, of having made common cause with declared racists as a young senator.
In May 2019, she described Joe Biden as a great "running mate" - she had him in mind as a running mate for her presidency.
But in the course of the year she lost support and gave up her candidacy in December 2019 due to poor survey results.
In March 2020, she specifically spoke out in favor of Joe Biden as the US Democratic presidential candidate, who announced Kamala Harris as his runner-up in August 2020.
Kamala Harris: 2020 Vice Presidential Candidate
Joe Biden
described
Kamala Harris
as a "fearless fighter" when announcing his decision.
She is trusted to be able to mobilize mainly African American voters - an important argument, especially against the background of the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
But
Biden
didn't just
choose
her because of her
origin
and gender.
When introducing his
vice-presidential candidate
, he also emphasized that she was able to "take over the job [of the president] immediately." want to see him as president, but rather speculate on Kamala Harris as a potential successor.
In the traditional TV duel between the vice-presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and
Mike Pence
answered the moderator's questions in October 2020.
Unlike the TV duel between the two presidential candidates
Donald Trump
and Joe Biden, which was largely chaotic and emotional, the two runner-ups tried to argue.
Kamala Harris advocated more economic redistribution, more climate protection and more state regulation.
Kamala Harris and Joe Biden worked together for the Democrats
On November 3, 2020, US voters will be asked to vote between Republican incumbent
Donald Trump
with Vice
Mike Pence
and Democratic challenger
Joe Biden
with Vice
Kamala Harris
as US President in the White House.
List of rubric lists: © Andrew Harnik / AP / dpa