Kamala Harris

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Kamala Harris (2017)

Kamala Devi Harris (born October 20, 1964 in Oakland , California , pronunciation of the first name: [ˈkɑːmələ] ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party and since January 20, 2021 the Vice President of the United States . After Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election , she became the first woman to be elected to this post , which was the 49th occupation. She is also the first ever African American and Asian Americanin this position. From 2011 to 2017, the lawyer was the Attorney General of California. As of 2017, she represented the state of California in the United States Senate .

Career

education and profession

Harris was born in Oakland in 1964. She is the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan (1938-2009), a Tamil breast cancer researcher who in 1960 from the Indian Madras in the United States emigrated , and Donald J. Harris (born 1938), one of Jamaica originating economists . Her maternal grandfather, P. V. Gopalan (1911–1998), was an official in the Indian federal government .

She grew up with her younger sister Maya in Berkeley , San Francisco Bay Area . Her parents divorced when she was seven years old. On weekends, the sisters visited their father, who was an economics professor at Stanford University , in Palo Alto . Harris said in an interview, "the kids in the neighborhood were not allowed to play with us because we black trails were." Of the profession her mother she lived temporarily in Canadian Montreal , where the high school attended.

Members of the AKA sorority with K. Harris (3rd from left)

Harris studied political science and economics at Howard University in Washington, DC There she became a member of the historically African American Sororitiey Alpha Kappa Alpha . After the Bachelor's degree in 1986, she returned to California, attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law , a law degree and graduated in 1989 with the degree of Juris Doctor from. In 1990 she received her admission as a lawyer . From 1990 to 1998 she was Assistant to the District Attorney of Alameda County , after which she worked for two years in the San Francisco District Attorney's office before moving to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office in 2000.

Harris is a member of the Democratic Party . In 2003, she ran for her party's district attorney in San Francisco and was elected. A significant portion of the campaign contributions (23% in 2002, 19–21% from January to September 2003, 12–13% in October and November 2003) came from the very affluent Pacific Heights district . She defeated the incumbent Terence Hallinan . In 2007 she was unanimously re-elected. There was no competition from within the party or from the Republicans . In this role, she was instrumental in developing a prevention program against the relapse of criminals. This program was also approved at the state level, so the State Legislature passed a law that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed. Because of a law passed in California in 2005, she developed a multi-stage plan against truancy , the third stage of which also provided for fines or imprisonment against the parents of truants. No prison sentences were therefore imposed in San Francisco. During her campaign for the election of the California Attorney General, she campaigned for the law to be tightened and supported a corresponding bill.

In 2004, Harris pleaded for the first police murder committed in San Francisco in many years, not for the death penalty , but for life imprisonment for the perpetrator, which was heavily criticized by the Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein .

Attorney General of California

Kamala Harris, 2013; next to her the then US Attorney General Eric Holder
Emblem of the Attorney General of California

For the election of the Attorney General in 2010, Harris was the favorite after the previous incumbent Jerry Brown had declared that he no longer wanted to run and instead would seek the office of governor . In the internal party primaries in June of that year, Harris prevailed against six other applicants. In the election of the Attorney General on November 2, 2010, she won under poor national conditions for her party over the Republican Steve Cooley extremely narrowly (46.1 against 45.3 percent of the vote). Nevertheless, their result remained well below the Jerry Browns in the parallel gubernatorial election. She took up her new office as Attorney General on January 3, 2011. In this post, she primarily had the function of attorney general , but also took on the duties of minister of justice . She also advised the government of the state of which she belonged on legal issues. Harris was both the first woman to serve in this office and the first person to come from an African American or Indian background. As Attorney General, like Governor Brown, she advocated greater arms control and equal sex marriage . She also spoke out against the death penalty , which is why she is seen as left ( liberal ) in the US .

She supported several new laws to combat truancy, which also tightened the legal process against parents of truants. Several sentences have been imposed under the law. In 2019, she distanced herself from the law and regretted its consequences, FactCheck.org, a project by the Annenberg School for Communication , judged this distancing as implausible.

In the run-up to the election of the Attorney General in 2014, she won the primaries with no problems. In the actual election on November 4, 2014, it was confirmed against Republican Ronald Gold with 57.5 percent. As with the re-election of Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, they defeated their Republican opponents with a clear majority. Her second term of four years began on January 5, 2015.

After the resignation of US Attorney General Eric Holder , announced in September 2014 , Harris was seen in the media as a possible successor. In the end, however, President Barack Obama chose Loretta Lynch .

Although she was an outspoken opponent of the death penalty - she affirmed this in her candidacy for district attorney in liberal San Francico in 2004 - she did not allow a retrial on the basis of new DNA evidence in the case of Kevin Cooper, who was sentenced to death in 1983, a decision by which she publicly distanced herself in 2018 after the end of her term as Attorney General. In 2015, she appealed against a federal judge's verdict calling the decade-long detention of a death row inmate a “cruel and unusual” punishment and declaring the death penalty unconstitutional.

Following her election to the U.S. Senate, Harris stepped down as Attorney General of California on January 3, 2017. With the approval of the state legislature , Governor Brown appointed Congressman Xavier Becerra to succeed her.

Senate candidacy 2016

Kamala Harris, 2016

On January 13, 2015, Harris announced that he would run for the successor of the no longer-running Barbara Boxer in the US Senate in the November 2016 election. There had been speculation in the US media for several months about Harris's candidacy for higher political office. In addition to an application for the Senate, there were also suspicions about a candidacy for the post of governor. On the day her application was announced, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom declared his support for Harris. Newsom was himself listed as a possible Senate candidate. In February 2015, Newsom announced its intention to run as governor in the 2018 elections, which Harris endorsed. The prominent Senator Elizabeth Warren also announced that she would support Harris in her Senate candidacy and raise campaign funds. In addition, in May 2016, she received an official declaration of support (so-called endorsement ) from Governor Brown, who was considered extremely popular in California. Later, US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also spoke out in favor of it.

In the primaries on June 7, 2016, Harris prevailed with more than 40 percent of the vote. Since 2012, with the exception of the President, California has no longer used any party primaries for all electoral posts : all candidates are voted on in a single primary, regardless of their party affiliation (so-called non-partisan blanket primary ). In the actual election, the two most successful candidates in the area code compete against each other, while the other applicants are eliminated. Since in the course of this primary election, the Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez took second place with around 16 percent and thus left all candidate Republicans behind, in the actual Senate election in November 2016, Harris and Sanchez for the first time met two Democrats. Harris was assigned to the progressive wing of the Democrats, while her opponent was seen more as a representative of the political center . Polls clearly saw Harris in the lead throughout the campaign. In the election on November 8th, she was able to beat her opponent Loretta Sanchez with 62.37% of the votes cast.

Senator for California

Kamala Harris, 2017

On January 3, 2017, Harris was sworn in as the new Senator at the constitution of the new Congress. After taking office, she was only the second African American woman and the first person with Indian roots in the US Senate. She was also one of three African Americans in the Senate when she was sworn in, along with her fellow party member Cory Booker from New Jersey and Republican Tim Scott from South Carolina . In the Senate, Harris was one of the Committees on Budget (Budget) , the environment (Environment and Public Works) , Homeland Security (Homeland Security) and intelligence (Intelligence) at.

Immediately after the election, Harris announced that he would head the opposition to the immigration policy of the newly elected US President Donald Trump . She sharply criticized the Executive Order 13769 issued by President Trump at the end of January 2017 (entry ban for people from certain Muslim countries) and called it incompatible with American values. She was one of the speakers at the Women's March on Washington in early 2017.

Harris asked then Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein questions regarding Trump's dismissal of FBI Director James Comey during a Senate hearing in June 2017 . Republican Senators Richard Burr and John McCain cut Harris off and asked her to be more courteous with their questions. Thereupon democratic Senate colleagues spoke up and said that they had not been interrupted on their own questions of a similar quality. Some Democrats accused committee chairman Richard Burr of sexism after he interrupted Harris while she was questioning then Attorney General Jeff Sessions .

On May 1, 2019, Attorney General and Trump confidante William Barr evaded her questions about the final report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller ; Harris then suggested that Barr resigned.

In August 2017, Harris announced that he would support a bill by her colleague Bernie Sanders to provide general state health insurance. Given the Republican majority in Congress, this was a more symbolic act. Harris also, like all her Democratic colleagues, voted against President Trump's forced abolition of Obamacare , which ultimately failed because of a group of Republican dissenters in the Senate.

By taking office as Vice President of the United States , she had to resign from the United States Senate by January 20, 2021 . Therefore, she officially resigned as senator on January 18, 2021. As her successor as Senator for the state of California , Governor Newsom appointed the previous Secretary of State of California Alex Padilla .

2020 presidential and vice-presidential candidacy

2020 presidential campaign logo

Since her election to the Senate, Harris has been brought up by some US media outlets as a potential Democratic presidential candidate. In an interview in June 2018, Harris stated that she was not categorically ruling out a candidacy. But it is still too early for concrete plans. In the run-up to the 2018 midterm election , Harris campaigned across the country for Democratic candidates. In California, she mainly supported the successful candidacies of Gavin Newsom as governor and Eleni Kounalakis as lieutenant governor .

In January 2019, during an interview on ABC News, she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election . Within 24 hours of its announcement, their campaign received a total of $ 1.5 million in small donations from private individuals. Until then, only Bernie Sanders had reached this record level during his candidacy in 2016. Harris waived campaign donations from interest groups through so-called Political Action Committees (PAC). In December 2019, she announced that she was giving up her presidential candidacy after low polls.

In March 2020, she publicly spoke out in favor of ex-Vice President and presidential candidate Joe Biden . She has since been traded as a possible vice president under Biden. On August 11, 2020, Biden officially declared her his vice-presidential candidate. The fashion magazine Vogue features Harris on the cover of its February 2021 issue. The photos have been criticized in the Woke community because they look whiter in the photos than they really are; we are talking about so-called white washing .

Vice President of the United States

Kamala Harris when she was sworn in as US Vice President, 2021

Kamala Harris was sworn in as Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2021. She was the first woman to be inducted into this post , which was the 49th occupation. She is also the first African American and Asian American to hold this position. At their request it took the judge at the Supreme Court , Sonia Sotomayor the oath.

Harris' first official act was the swearing in of the two new Senators from Georgia , Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff , as well as their Senate successor Alex Padilla as representative of California in the plenary session of the Chamber. Harris heads the Senate as President . In this otherwise more ceremonial role she has a key role in the 117th Congress : Due to the distribution of seats of 50 Democrats and Republicans each, Harris has the decisive casting vote in the event of a ballot. In addition, this has the consequence that the Democrats are considered a majority party and their faction leader Chuck Schumer determines the agenda of the chamber.

Political positions

Harris advocates the Green New Deal as an element to overcome the climate crisis and presented it together with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez . She said: “From forest fires in the west to hurricanes in the east to floods and droughts in the heartland, we will not swallow the lie. We will act based on scientific facts, not on science fiction. ”Even during her time in California, she advocated climate justice and climate protection . Overall, their position on climate issues is considered to be “moderate”.

Harris endorses the nuclear deal with Iran .

Harris supports reproductive rights to abortion and contraception and advocates the legal protection of the Roe v. Wade 's 1973 decision. Against Joe Biden's opposition, she advocated Medicaid funding abortions . Your candidacy was supported by pro-choice organizations such as EMILY's List and NARAL . During her tenure as California Attorney General, however, she allowed a hospital co-founded by Presbyterians to cancel the offer of abortions after a partnership with the Roman Catholic Church . Pro-choice organizations criticized this.

Harris advocates regular background checks for all sellers of more than five firearms per year and license revocation for arms dealers who have broken a law. She announced her own legislative initiative in the event of her election as president, if Congress does not take action 100 days after the election. She is considered a supporter of strict gun laws.

In 2017, Harris supported Bernie Sanders ' controversial demand for “ Medicare for all” within the Democrats , but later developed his own plan that allows for a choice between private provision and Medicare. She advocates programs to better combat diseases during pregnancy and childbirth, which affect black mothers far above average.

Harris advocates the resumption of the DACA program for illegally migrated children and their naturalization. She took part in protests against the internment of migrants at the border and, as one of three Democratic senators, voted against a compromise with the Trump administration, which in exchange for the naturalization of DACA participants provided for billions in funds to fortify the border.

Harris advocates the abolition of private prisons and mandatory minimum sentences. She responded to criticism of her conduct as California Attorney General because of the overcrowded prisons there by pointing to her success in combating international drug, arms and human trafficking. After the killing of George Floyd , she pleaded for police reform. She campaigns for the national legalization of marijuana . She supports the decriminalization of prostitution , but as a California prosecutor she persecuted women who were doing illegal work in this state and enforced the closure of the sex website Backpage.com .

Harris is committed to distributing $ 2,000 a month to all Americans to help fuel the country's economy, which has been damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic . She advocates a ban on evictions and foreclosures during the duration of the illness and advocates special aid programs for particularly affected minorities.

As a presidential candidate, Harris advocated issuing tax credits of $ 3,000 for unmarried people and $ 6,000 for married couples below certain income limits. The program was to be funded by removing the 2017 Republican tax breaks for incomes over $ 100,000 a year. Other Democrats' plans put higher tax burdens on the upper income brackets. She distances herself from Elizabeth Warren's proposals to break up large technology groups and instead advocates their stricter regulation. During the global financial crisis, she campaigned as California Attorney General for the protection of homeowners from foreclosures and withdrew California from discussions with the largest American banks on the subject. She did not see herself in a position to intensify the prosecution of those who caused the crisis. She advocates an extension of child care to six months and greater support for professional development.

According to the website GovTrack , Harris is one of the senators with the clearest left-wing liberal voting behavior , her partial revocation of her own positions and the contrast to her administration as California prosecutor affected her 2020 presidential campaign.

Private life

Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff during a visit to the Yad Vashem Memorial (2017)

Kamala Harris' family practices elements of both Baptist and Hindu beliefs. Kamala Harris describes herself as a Baptist and is a member of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco , which is part of the American Baptist Churches USA . She has been married to the Jewish attorney Douglas Emhoff since August 2014 , who brought two teenage children into the marriage from a previous marriage. In the 1990s, Harris was dating the politician Willie Brown , who became mayor of San Francisco in 1996 . Her sister, political advisor Maya Harris , led her campaign as a 2019 presidential candidate and a 2020 vice presidential candidate.

Web links

Commons : Kamala Harris  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b CNN PROJECTION: JOE BIDEN WINS THE PRESIDENCY. In: cnn.com. CNN, November 7, 2020, accessed November 7, 2020 .
  2. ↑ With a word of Tamil, Kamala Harris boosts her fanbase in India. August 24, 2020, accessed on August 27, 2020 .
  3. ^ The New Face of Politics… An Interview with Kamala Harris. In: DesiClub. December 11, 2010, accessed August 13, 2020 .
  4. ↑ PM Golding congratulates Kamala Harris - daughter of Jamaican - on appointment as California's First Woman Attorney General. In: Jamaica Information Service. December 2, 2010, accessed August 13, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Obituary: Dr. Shyamala G. Harris. In: San Francisco Chronicle. March 22, 2009, accessed August 13, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Michael Finnegan: How race helped shape the politics of Senate candidate Kamala Harris. In: Los Angeles Times . September 30, 2015, Retrieved November 8, 2020 (American English).
  7. ^ Donna Owens: Meet Kamala Harris, the second Black woman elected to the US Senate , NBC News. November 8, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2017. 
  8. ↑ a b biography on the website of the Attorney General Office (English)
  9. ↑ How San Francisco's Wealthiest Families Launched Kamala Harris , Michael Kruse, Politico, August 9, 2019
  10. ↑ a b California lawmakers take aim at elementary school truancy , Sharon Bernstein, Reuters, 11 March 2014
  11. ↑ SF cites parents of chronically truant kids , Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, June 11, 2008
  12. ↑ a b Kamala Harris regrets California truancy law that led to arrest of some parents , Melanie Mason, Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2019
  13. ↑ a b c Kamala Harris' dual roles, 'mixed record' with the death penalty , Allison Pecorin, ABC News, August 21, 2019
  14. ↑ Kamala Harris Spins Facts on Truancy Law , Eugene Kieley, FactCheck.org, May 14, 2019
  15. ^ Mollie Reilly: Kamala Harris Re-Elected As California Attorney General. In: Huffington Post , November 5, 2014.
  16. ^ Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Matt Apuzzo: Loretta Lynch, Federal Prosecutor, Will Be Nominated for Attorney General. In: The New York Times , November 7, 2014.
  17. ^ Harris and the death penalty: years of consistency - and conflict , John Diaz, San Francisco Chronicle, March 18, 2019
  18. ↑ Alison Vekshin: Gavin Newsom to Run for California Governor in 2018 In: Bloomberg , February 11, 2015.
  19. ↑ Sean Sullivan: Kamala Harris to run for Boxer's Senate seat In: Washington Post , January 12, 2015.
  20. ↑ Kyle Cheney: Warren endorses, raises money for Kamala Harris In: Politico , January 14, 2015 (English).
  21. ↑ Phil Willon: California Gov. Jerry Brown backs Kamala Harris for US Senate. In: Los Angeles Times , May 31, 2016 (English).
  22. ↑ https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/election/california-elections/article113387458.html
  23. ↑ Mary Clare Jalonick: Harris Reminded to Be Respectful During Intel Hearing. In: US News , June 7, 2017 (English).
  24. ^ Rieke Havertz: Pragmatic-progressive against Donald Trump. In: Zeit Online , May 5, 2019.
  25. ↑ David Weigel: Sen. Kamala Harris backs Bernie Sanders's single-payer bill. In: Washington Post , August 31, 2017 (English).
  26. ↑ Kamala Harris resigns Senate seat ahead of Inauguration Day. January 18, 2021, accessed January 18, 2021 (American English).
  27. ↑ California first: A Latino US senator to replace Harris , Kathleen Ronayne December 23, 2020 from apnews.com , accessed December 28, 2020
  28. ↑ Mallory Shelbourne: Kamala Harris on 2020 presidential bid: 'I'm not ruling it out' In: The Hill , June 25, 2018 (English).
  29. ↑ Lauren Gambino: Kamala Harris officially enters US presidential race. In: The Guardian , January 21, 2019.
  30. ↑ David Wright: Kamala Harris touts $ 1.5 million haul in 24 hours after campaign announcement. In: CNN , January 22, 2019 (English).
  31. ↑ Astead Wesley Herndon, Shane Goldmacher, Jonathan Martin: Kamala Harris Is Dropping Out of the 2020 Presidential Race. In: The New York Times , December 3, 2019.
  32. ↑ Kamala Harris now also supports Joe Biden. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 8, 2020.
  33. ↑ Amy Klobuchar declines to run as a possible US Vice President. In: Der Spiegel , June 19, 2020.
  34. ↑ Matt Viser, Sean Sullivan: Sen. Kamala D. Harris named as Joe Biden's running mate. Washington Post, August 11, 2020, accessed August 12, 2020 .
  35. ↑ 'De ser dødssyge ud': Billeder af USA's upcoming vicepræsident vækker vrede og undren. January 12, 2021, accessed January 12, 2021 (Danish).
  36. ↑ Oscar Holland, CNN | Jasmine Wright CNN: Kamala Harris' casual Vogue cover causes stir online. Retrieved January 12, 2021 .
  37. ↑ Richard Luscombe, Priya Elan: Vogue's Kamala Harris cover photos spark controversy: 'Washed out mess' . In: The Guardian . January 11, 2021, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed January 12, 2021]).
  38. ↑ a b c Emma Föhringer Merchant: What the Kamala Harris VP Pick Means for Biden's Energy and Climate Platform. In: Greentech Media , August 11, 2020 (English).
  39. ↑ Chelsea Mes: Kamala Harris Says She'd Rejoin Iran Agreement If She's Elected . In: Bloomberg.com . June 19, 2019 ( bloomberg.com [accessed November 10, 2020]).
  40. ↑ a b c d Kamala Harris' Views on Policing, the Economy, Immigration, and More , Katherine J. Igoe, Bianca Rodriguez, Marie Claire, November 9, 2020
  41. ↑ Where Kamala Harris Stands on Abortion , Bianca Rodriguez, Marie Claire, November 6, 2020
  42. ^ About Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian , own website
  43. ↑ a b c d e Where Kamala Harris stands on the issues , Kathryn Watson, CBS News, August 14, 2020
  44. ↑ Kamala Harris' new health plan: 'Medicare for All' - with private insurers , Dan Diamond, Christopher Cadelago, Politico, July 29, 2019
  45. ↑ a b c d e f g What Kamala Harris believes: Key issues, policy positions and votes , Adam Cancryn, Carla Marinucci, Politico, August 11, 2020
  46. ↑ Harris tax plan Focuses on middle class relief, not the ultra-rich Tami Luhby CNN, January 29, 2019
  47. ↑ $ 25-billion foreclosure settlement was a victory for Kamala Harris in California, but it wasn't perfect , Phil Willon, LA Times, October 16, 2016
  48. ↑ Donna M. Owens: California Attorney General Kamala Harris Plans to be America's Next Black Female Senator. In: Essence (magazine). January 13, 2017, accessed on August 13, 2020 .
  49. ↑ Yonat Shimron: race Kamala Harris is more than her gender and. She is also the future of American religion. Religion News Service, August 12, 2020, accessed August 25, 2020 .
  50. ↑ Emily Burack: Who Are Cole and Ella Emhoff? Meet Kamala Harris's Jewish Children. heyalma.com, November 10, 2020, accessed November 14, 2020 .
  51. ^ McKenzie Jean-Philippe: Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris's Step-Kids Call Her “Momala”. In: The Oprah Magazine. November 7, 2020, accessed November 8, 2020 .
  52. ↑ David Siders: Kamala Harris married in Santa Barbara ceremony. In: The Sacramento Bee , 23 August 2014 (English).
  53. ^ Rieke Havertz: Pragmatic-progressive against Donald Trump. In: Die Zeit Online. May 5, 2019, accessed November 8, 2020 .
  54. ↑ Danielle Zoellner: Maya Harris: Who is Kamala's younger sister and why do people call her the next 'Bobby Kennedy'. Independent, August 13, 2020, accessed November 8, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Harris, Kamala
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harris, Kamala Devi (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Oakland , California