Who is Kamala Harris? If she wins the election, she will make history in the United States.

After US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential election on November 5th, attention turned to his vice president, Kamala Harris, whom he nominated as a candidate.

If nominated by the Democrats for the US presidency and winning the election on November 5th, Harris will become the first female and Asian-American president of the United States.

So, who is Kamala Harris, known as the politician of firsts? Here is the answer to the question that everyone is curious about...

Kamala Harris was born in 1964 in Oakland, California, to an educated immigrant family. Harris' mother is of Indian descent and her father is of Jamaican descent. After Harris' parents divorced when she was a child, she was mostly raised by her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who was a cancer researcher and civil rights advocate.

Harris said that her mother made efforts to integrate her and her sister Maya into the black communities in Oakland, stating in her autobiography 'The Truths We Hold', "My mother was aware that she was raising two black girls. She was determined to raise us as confident and proud black women."

THE ADVICE HARRIS FOLLOWED TO THE LETTER

In the same book, Kamala Harris recounts what her mother Gopalan said to her and her sister Maya: "Don't just sit around and complain. Do something!" This advice became something that Kamala Harris followed to the letter throughout her life. Harris's path extended from Oakland to Montreal when her mother found a job in Canada, and she started high school in this country. Later, Harris returned to the US and attended Howard University, one of the leading historically black colleges in American history. At Howard University, where she studied political science and economics, she became interested in political issues such as racism in South Africa and race relations in the US.

She then received a law education at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco and became a lawyer. Starting to work as a prosecutor in 1990, Harris quickly gained fame in her professional circle with her sharp intellect and fighting spirit. In her autobiography, she wrote about how she turned her past experiences of discrimination into a determination to be the best in everything. In 2003, Harris became the first female district attorney of San Francisco, and in 2010, she was elected as the 32nd Attorney General of California by defeating six rivals. This position, called 'Attorney General' in the US, combines the roles of a prosecutor and a justice minister. Harris, who took office on January 3, 2011, was not only the first woman to hold this position but also the first person of Indian and African descent.

CONTROVERSIAL VIEWS

Kamala Harris has always been a controversial figure due to her views. While she opposes the death penalty, she has also faced criticism from left-wing members of her party for supporting a legal regulation that would punish families whose children constantly skip school with up to one year of imprisonment. In 2015, she ran for the Senate. Harris received the support of the majority of Democrats, including then-US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. In 2017, she became the second black woman in history to be elected to the Senate.

HISTORIC VICTORY

Harris, who had previously been mentioned as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, faced Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren when she announced her candidacy in 2019. Harris was initially considered a favorite. However, she lost support throughout the year and announced her withdrawal from the race in December 2019 due to low poll results. Afterwards, she was nominated for the vice presidency.

Biden referred to Harris as "a smart, tough, and experienced fighter." The duo defeated Donald Trump and his vice president Mike Pence in the 2020 elections. They took the oath on January 20, 2021, just two weeks after the Capitol riot by Trump supporters. Although she seemed to be in the background in Biden's campaign, considering that they received 90% of the votes from black women, Harris's identity as a black woman may have played a role in this victory. Since 2014, Harris has been married to Douglas Emhoff, a Jewish lawyer. Emhoff has two children from his previous marriage, while Harris does not have any children.