What to know about Kamala Harris

(NewsNation) —  As President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he will not seek reelection in November against former President Donald Trump, he shared his “full support and endorsement” for his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, as the Democratic candidate.

As Biden’s performance in the first presidential debate led to a host of Democrats calling for him to be replaced as the party’s official candidate, one of the most popular suggestions for a replacement has been Harris.

While she is not the formal Democratic nominee for president yet, Harris said in a statement Sunday that she intends “to earn and win [the party's] nomination.”

Who is Kamala Harris?

Harris currently serves as the Vice President of the United States. She is the first woman, first Black person, and first Asian American person to hold this position.

Harris graduated from Howard University before attending law school at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law.

She was admitted to the California State Bar in 1990 and then served as a deputy and assistant district attorney before being elected District Attorney of San Francisco.  

Kamala Harris road to the White House

Harris was elected the District Attorney of San Francisco in 2004 and served until 2011.  As district attorney, Harris prioritized cracking down on student truancy and creating a reentry program for low-level drug offenders.

In 2011, Harris was elected the California Attorney General. In this role, she declined to defend Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage.

In 2017, Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. In this position, she advocated for healthcare reform, gun control and a path to citizenship for immigrants. 

In 2020, Biden announced that Harris would be his running mate in the presidential election. 

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden's relationship

After the first presidential debate, many expressed that Harris should replace Biden as the Democratic party’s nominee. Major reasons include that she is much younger than him and has worked closely with him.

Before Biden announced Harris as his vice president pick during the 2020 election, the two had clashed over Biden's past policies. Harris had called out his past collaborations with segregationist senators and his opposition to mandated bussing to promote school desegregation in the 1970s.

However, Biden and Harris have bonded because of her closeness with his late son, Beau Biden. The president's son served as the attorney general of Delaware during Harris's tenure as California attorney general, and the pair worked closely together.

Biden said he considered his son, who died of brain cancer in 2015, when choosing Harris as his running mate.

At an event this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, she continued to support Biden while attacking former President Donald Trump. 

“In a real leader, character matters more than style, and Donald Trump simply does not have the character to be president of the United States,” Harris said. 

Kamala Harris's political views

Harris has long supported gun control, equality for women and the LGBTQ community, and voting rights, but was criticized in her tenure as California's attorney general for not investigating shootings by police.

Harris has called for policies such as the decriminalization of marijuana and cutting defense spending. She also released a climate equity plan with NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that would consider the impact of new climate policies on low-income communities.

Harris has previously referred to herself as a "progressive prosecutor," and was endorsed by the police union when she was elected San Francisco district attorney. In this election, she beat her former boss, Terence Hallinan, who was viewed as one of the most progressive district attorneys in the nation.

During the Biden-Harris administration’s tenure, Harris has worked to fight for abortion rights and gun control. The administration has also approved billions of dollars in student debt relief. 

Kamala Harris's net worth

According to reports, a significant part of Harris's earnings came from publishing three books, including a memoir. According to her 2015 Congressional finance disclosure, her net worth was roughly $3.31 million. Her annual salary as vice president is reported to be $235,100.

However, the vast majority of her net worth is attributable to her marriage to attorney Doug Emhoff in 2014. The couple have reported combined assets worth about $6 million.

Kamala Harris controversies

Harris has one of the lowest approval ratings of any vice president. According to a 538 poll, as of mid-July, almost 50% of Americans disapprove of Harris as vice president, and only 38% approve of her. 

Her term has seen lots of turnover in her office, including the resignation of her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff. Politico reported an anonymous source said that they, along with the press secretary and communications director, resigned because they “often feel mistreated.” 

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris faced criticism about her tenure as California's attorney general, especially when she did not step in to investigate shootings by police in San Francisco following the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Kamala Harris's personal life

Harris married lawyer Douglas Emhoff in 2014 and became the stepmother of his two children, Ella and Cole. She is 59 years old and grew up in California. 

Harris graduated from Howard University before attending law school at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law.