Kamala Harris’ rise to political power started in California, where she served as a district attorney and attorney general for the state. And it has culminated in a 2020 presidential run.
Harris, 54, has broken many barriers in her career, becoming the first African-American and woman to serve as California’s attorney general. And when she joined the Senate, she became the first South Asian-American and second black woman to join. In January 2019, Harris officially announced she would run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.
Harris graduated from Howard University, a historically black university, and received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings.
he worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California in the 1990s at a time when violent crime in Oakland was rising, according to The New York Times. She worked for the San Francisco city attorney before she was elected – twice – as the city’s district attorney.
She served as the district attorney from 2004 until 2011, when she became California’s attorney general. She was first elected to the Senate – where she serves on the Judiciary, Intelligence, Homeland Security and Budget Committees – in 2016.
Harris said she chose her career because she wanted to be “at the table where the decisions are made.”
Read on for a look at some of the decisions she made throughout her career.
Before Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage, Harris was a champion for marriage equality.
As California’s attorney general, Harris refused to defend Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment passed by the state’s voters in 2008 which would have barred same-sex marriage.
“I declined to defend Proposition 8 because it violates the Constitution. The Supreme Court has described marriage as a fundamental right 14 times since 1888,” she said in a statement. The time has come for this right to be afforded to every citizen.”
The Supreme Court eventually ruled against Proposition 8. Harris would officiate the wedding of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, the first same-sex marriage in California.