On July 21st, 2024, after dropping out of the 2024 presidential election, President Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as a replacement for the Democratic Party nominee. However, not everyone immediately jumped to supporting Harris. Even as vice president, Harris faced a lot of criticism regarding several topics, such as not doing enough in her role. Although some voters and a few Democrats were reluctant, many high-profile lawmakers joined Biden in endorsing Harris, who is now the official nominee for the Democratic Party. On that note, with Harris now running, the Democratic party has hope to regain young voters—especially women—and Black voters. With such a critical change to the campaign saga, it is crucial to understand this new candidate.

A key part of Harris’s platform is her background. Harris was born to two immigrant parents, her Indian mother and Jamaican father, but she was primarily raised by her mother. In her campaign, Harris often reflects on the many lessons her mother taught her. "She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it,” Harris said at the Democratic National Convention. Growing up, Harris immersed herself in her Indian heritage, but her mother also adopted Oakland, California’s Black culture. Some believe that Harris’s biracial roots could make it easier for her to connect with many Americans, as many parts of the country’s diverse array of people see and relate to her as an aspirational symbol. 

Harris earned her undergraduate degree at Howard University, where the university said she “was introduced to her love of politics.” After her graduation, Harris attended University of California Law, San Francisco (formerly known as University of California Hastings) for her law degree. Following her graduation from UC Law SF, she began her career in Alameda County District Attorney's Office. Then, in 2003, Harris became the District Attorney of the City and County of San Francisco for two terms. In 2017, she was sworn in as a United States Senator for California. Prior to becoming the vice president in 2021, she served on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on the Budget. 

As one of the candidates in the 2024 presidential race, Harris’s most urgent priority is to tackle the cost of living. For the economy, she promises mortgage assistance for first-time homebuyers, a tax credit for parents of newborns, and a ban on price gouging at grocery stores to help target inflation, as she wants to “support and strengthen the middle class.” As for immigration, she supports a hardline bipartisan border security deal and hopes to sign it into law. Harris has always supported women’s right to an abortion and continues to advocate for women, as it is a central issue for her campaign. 

Harris’s career has been filled with firsts. She became the first Indian American senator in 2017, the first woman to become vice president, as well as the first Black or Asian American person in the position, and first woman of color to be a major presidential nominee, just to name a few. If she wins the election, she will become the first female president of the United States. During the Democratic National Convention, Harris mentioned her biracial background rather than directly going into the racial and gender “firsts” she plans to set if elected. In other words, she utilized the convention as a platform to portray herself and her story first.

Harris continues to talk about her heritage throughout her campaign while demonstrating courage in the face of adversity and also the determination to continue to represent those who might not get representation otherwise. Those qualities, in addition to her recent performance in the September 10th debate, serves to demonstrate that Harris is fierce competition in the race for the White House.

Information retrieved from BBC, NBC, NPR, PBS, Dartmouth University, and Howard University.