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Harris was born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California. She has served as the junior United States Senator from California since 2017 and previously served as the 32nd Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017, and as the 27th District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. On January 21, 2019, she officially announced her campaign to run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election. Harris is a graduate of Howard University and University of California, Hastings College of the Law. In the 1990s, she worked in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and the City Attorney of San Francisco's office. In 2004, she was elected District attorney of San Francisco. She won a very close election in 2010 to become California's Attorney General and was reelected in 2014 by a wide margin. On November 8, 2016, she defeated Loretta Sanchez in the 2016 Senate election to succeed outgoing Senator Barbara Boxer, becoming California's third female U.S. Senator, and the first of Jamaican or Indian ancestry. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was a breast cancer scientist who immigrated to the United States from Madras (today called Chennai) in 1960. Her father, Donald Harris, is a Stanford University economics professor who emigrated from Jamaica in 1961 for graduate study in economics at University of California, Berkeley.
When Harris took office as her state's Attorney-General in 2011, California was hurting from the effects of the subprime mortgage crisis. In 2012, she participated in the National Mortgage Settlement against five banks, securing $12 billion of debt reduction for the state's homeowners and $26 billion overall. She introduced the California Homeowner's Bill of Rights in the California State Legislature, a set of laws which took effect on January 1, 2013, banning "dual-tracking" (processing a modification and foreclosure at the same time) and robo-signing, and giving the California Attorney General more power to investigate and prosecute financial fraud and to convene special grand juries to prosecute multi-county crimes instead of prosecuting a single crime county by county.
In 2011 the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Plata declared California's prisons so overcrowded they inflicted cruel and unusual punishment. After California failed to fully implement the court's order to reduce crowding, the State of California appealed the decision. Harris argued that if forced to release these inmates early, prisons would lose an important source of labor, such as for fighting wildfires. Harris later backed away from her office's argument in the prison-litigation case, telling the website ThinkProgress: "The way that argument played out in court does not reflect my priorities... The idea that we incarcerate people to have indentured servants is one of the worst possible perceptions. I feel very strongly about that. It evokes images of chain gangs."
Harris has prosecuted numerous financial crimes, such as predatory lending. In 2011, while serving as Attorney General of California, she created the Mortgage Fraud Strike Force which had a mandate to eliminate mortgage foreclosure fraud. The task force has been criticized for not filing as many foreclosure cases as in states with smaller populations. In 2013, Harris did not prosecute Steve Mnuchin's bank OneWest. Harris said that her office's decision not to prosecute Mnuchin was based on "following the facts and the evidence like any other case". In 2016, Mnuchin donated $2,000 to Harris' campaign, making her the only 2016 Senate Democratic candidate to get a donation from Mnuchin, but as a senator, Harris voted against the confirmation of Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury.
During Barack Obama's presidency, Harris was mentioned as a possible nominee for the United States Supreme Court or U.S. Attorney General, but she was not nominated to either office. After Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) announced her intention to retire from the United States Senate at the end of her term in 2016, Harris was the first candidate to declare her intention to run for Boxer's senate seat. In the November 2016 election, Harris won the senate seat with 62 percent of the vote, carrying all but four counties. Following her victory, Harris promised to protect immigrants from the policies of President-elect Donald Trump.
On January 21, 2017, a day after President Trump was sworn into office, Harris spoke during the Women's March on Washington and criticized the new President. On January 28, after Trump signed Executive Order 13769, barring citizens from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for 90 days, Harris condemned the order and calling it a "Muslim ban". In early February, Harris spoke in opposition to Trump's cabinet picks Betsy DeVos, for Secretary of Education, and Jeff Sessions, for United States Attorney General. In her first speech on the senate floor, Harris attacked Trump's immigration policies. The next month she called on Attorney General Sessions to resign, after it was reported that Sessions spoke twice with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. She also argued that repealing the Affordable Care Act would send the message of health care's being a "privilege" rather than a "civil right".
On June 7, 2017, Harris questioned Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, over the role he played in the May 2017 firing of James Comey, the Director of the FBI. Senator John McCain interrupted Harris and asked that she be more respectful of the witness. On June 13, Harris questioned Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General, on the same topic. Harris was again interrupted by McCain. In a January 2018 hearing, Harris questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for favoring Norwegian immigrants over others and claiming to be unaware that Norway is a predominantly white country. In an April 2018 hearing, Harris questioned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook's misuse of users' data.
In response to the administration's family separation policy, Harris visited one of the detention facilities near the border in June 2018. In the September and October 2018 Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Harris participated in questioning the FBI Director's limited scope of the investigation on Kavanaugh. Harris was one of the targets of the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts.
In the Senate, Harris is a member of a number of committees including the Committee on the Budget, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management, the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management, the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Subcommittee on the Constitution, the Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts and the Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. She is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues.
In July 2018, Harris announced that she would publish a memoir, causing speculation that she was planning to run for President. She also stumped for candidates in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. On January 21, 2019, Harris officially announced her candidacy for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election. During the first 24 hours following Harris announcing her candidacy, she tied a record set by Bernie Sanders in 2016 for the most money raised in the day following announcement. However, Sanders later broke this record after announcing his 2020 presidential campaign. Over 20,000 people attended her formal campaign launch event at Frank Ogawa Plaza in her hometown of Oakland, California on January 27.
Since her election to the Senate, Harris has maintained a 100% rating by the abortion rights advocacy group called Planned Parenthood Action Fund and a 0% rating by the anti-abortion group National Right to Life Committee. She did not initially support the legalization of recreational marijuana, but later expressed her support for legalization. In 2010, while campaigning for Attorney General of California, Harris opposed Proposition 19, the first failed attempt to legalize recreational marijuana in California, on the grounds that selling drugs harms communities. In 2015, Harris called for an end on the federal prohibition of medical marijuana. In May 2018, Harris announced she would co-sponsor the Marijuana Justice Act, which Senator Cory Booker introduced in August 2017. The legislation would eliminate marijuana's status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substance Act and would also require federal courts to automatically expunge prior federal marijuana convictions related to use or possession.
Harris is opposed to the death penalty, but has said that she would review each case individually. In April 2004, when SFPD Officer Isaac Espinoza was murdered in the Bayview district, Harris announced that she would not seek the death penalty for the man accused of his killing. The decision evoked protests from the San Francisco Police Officers Association, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and others. The jury in that case found the convicted killer, David Hill, guilty of second-degree murder, and prosecutor Harry Dorfman sought a first-degree murder conviction. Hill was given sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Harris's position against the death penalty was tested again in the case of Edwin Ramos, an undocumented immigrant and alleged MS-13 gang member who was accused of murdering Tony Bologna and his sons Michael and Matthew. On September 10, 2009, Harris announced she would seek life in prison without the possibility of parole rather than the death penalty in the Ramos case.
In interviews with Matt Lauer on The Today Show and local KGO-TV, Harris argued for treating "habitual and chronic truancy" among children in elementary school as a crime committed by the parents of truant children. She argues that there is a direct connection between habitual truancy in elementary school and crime later in life. She has received the endorsement of the California Federation of Teachers.
On December 21, 2017, Harris was one of six senators to introduce the "Secure Elections Act", legislation authorizing block grants for states that would update outdated voting technology. The act would also create an independent panel of experts to develop cybersecurity guidelines for election systems that states could adopt if they choose, along with offering states resources to implement the recommendations.
In October 2017, Harris was one of nineteen senators to sign a letter to Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt questioning Pruitt's decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan. In September 2018, Harris was one of eight senators to sponsor the Climate Risk Disclosure Act, a bill to speed up the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy. Harris stated that her goal would be achieving 100% of U.S. electricity from renewable energy sources, and that she supports a Green New Deal.
In April 2017, following the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, Harris charged Syrian president Bashar al-Assad with attacking Syrian children, and stated "the clear fact that president Assad is not only a ruthless dictator brutalizing his own people, he is a war criminal the international community cannot ignore." In 2017, Harris said in an address, "I believe Israel should never be a partisan issue, and as long as I’m a United States senator, I will do everything in my power to ensure broad and bipartisan support for Israel’s security and right to self-defense." Harris was a co-sponsor of a Senate resolution expressing objection to the UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as a violation of international law. She also supported Senate resolution celebrating the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. In late 2017, Harris traveled to Israel, where she met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In October 2017, Harris condemned the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar and called for a stronger response to the crisis.
In February 2018, Harris was one of 18 Democratic senators to sign a letter to Trump stating that he lacked the authority to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea without authorization from Congress. In late 2018, she voted to withdraw U.S. military aid for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen. Harris also backed a resolution blaming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
Harris supported the Iran nuclear deal to prevent Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. In December 2018, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration was suspending its obligations in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 60 days in the event that Russia continued to violate the treaty, Harris was one of 26 senators to sign a letter criticizing the administration for "now abandoning generations of bipartisan U.S. leadership around the paired goals of reducing the global role and number of nuclear weapons and ensuring strategic stability with America's nuclear-armed adversaries". She called on the President to continue arms negotiations.
Harris voted in favor of a $675 billion defense budget bill for the 2019. She said that North Korea is "one of the most serious security threats". In February 2019, after former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe claimed that President Trump believed the claims of President of Russia Vladimir Putin over U.S. intelligence agencies' reports on the subject of North Korea’s missile capabilities, Harris told reporters, "The idea that the president of the U.S. would take the word of the head of Russia over the intel community is the height of irresponsibility and shameful."
Harris earned an "F" rating from the NRA for her consistent efforts supporting gun control. While serving as district attorney in San Francisco, Harris, along with other district attorneys, filed an amicus brief in District of Columbia v. Heller, arguing that the Washington, D.C., gun law at issue did not violate the Second Amendment. In her second term as district attorney, she said that getting guns off the streets was a priority. During her run for Senate, Harris was endorsed by former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, shot in Tucson in 2011. She was also endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. After the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Harris supported the call for more gun control, saying that she believed that thoughts and prayers are inadequate answers to the shooting.
On August 30, 2017, Harris announced at a town hall in Oakland that she would co-sponsor fellow Senator Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for All" bill, supporting single-payer healthcare. In April 2018, Harris was one of ten senators to sponsor the Choose Medicare Act, an expanded public option for health insurance that also increased ObamaCare subsidies and rendered individuals with higher income levels eligible for its assistance.
Harris has expressed support for San Francisco's sanctuary city policy of not inquiring about immigration status in the process of a criminal investigation. Harris argues that it is important that immigrants be able to talk with law enforcement without fear. On October 25, 2017, Harris stated she would not support a spending bill until Congress addressed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. She did not support a February 2018 proposal by some Democrats to provide President Trump with $25 billion in funding for a border wall in exchange for giving DREAMers a pathway to citizenship. In April 2018, Harris was one of five senators to send a letter to acting director of ICE Thomas Homan requesting that pregnant women not be held in custody unless under extraordinary standards after reports "that ICE has failed to provide critical medical care to pregnant women in immigration detention — resulting in miscarriages and other negative health outcomes". In July 2018, Harris was one of 22 senators to sponsor the Stop Shackling and Detaining Pregnant Women Act, which if enacted would prohibit immigration officers from detaining pregnant women in a majority of circumstances and improve conditions of care for individuals in custody. In August 2018, Harris and sixteen other senators sent a letter to United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen demanding that the Trump administration take immediate action in attempting to reunite 539 migrant children with their families.
In January 2019, Harris was one of twenty senators to sponsor the Dreamer Confidentiality Act, a bill imposing a ban on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from passing information collected on DACA recipients to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Department of Justice, or any other law enforcement agency with exceptions in the case of fraudulent claims, national security issues, or non-immigration related felonies being investigated.
During her tenure as California Attorney General, Harris declined to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage in court. Following the Supreme Court's overturning of the ban on same sex marriage, Harris conducted California's first same sex marriage. As a member of the U.S. Senate, she co-sponsored the Equality Act.
In March 2018, Harris was one of ten senators to sign a letter criticizing a proposal from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that would curb the scope of benefits from the Lifeline program during a period where roughly 6.5 million people in poor communities relied on Lifeline to receive access to high-speed internet.
Harris opposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and has called for a repeal of the bill's tax cuts for wealthy Americans. In 2018, she proposed a tax cut for the majority of working- and middle-class Americans. An analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated that the bill would reduce federal revenue by $2.8 trillion over a decade. Harris proposed to pay for the tax cuts by repealing tax cuts for wealthy Americans and by increasing taxes on corporations.
Harris' 2020 campaign has disavowed most corporate donations, and has committed to rejecting money from corporate political action committees for her presidential campaign. Harris, along with candidates Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Marianne Williamson, has explicitly discouraged single-candidate super PACs from operating on her behalf. She has received contributions from Hollywood celebrities, including J. J. Abrams, who hosted a big fundraiser for Senator Harris.
Harris has recently been overtaken by Beto O'Rourke in recent polling numbers, but she remains a strong candidate, especially if Joe Biden chooses not to run and depending on whether or not Bernie Sanders can maintain his early strong showing. Her performance in debates and in early primary voting will be crucial to he chances at becoming the first female President of the United States.