From the daughter of immigrants to the favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination. William Brangham has a look at Vice President Kamala Harris' record and how she arrived at this pivotal moment.
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
Amna Nawaz:
And let's take a step back now to delve into Vice President Harris' record and how she arrived at this pivotal moment.
William Brangham has a look at her path, from the daughter of immigrants to the favorite for the Democratic presidential nominee.
William Brangham:
In the blink of an eye, Vice President Kamala Harris went from being President Biden's biggest defender…
Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: One thing we know about our President Joe Biden, he is a fighter.
William Brangham:
… to the person most likely to replace him on the presidential ballot four months from now.
Harris securing the nomination would be historic, the first time a Black woman leads a major-party ticket. But it would be just the latest in a career of firsts for Harris, a politician who rose from district attorney to state attorney general to U.S. senator.
In 2021, she became the first woman and first Black American and South Asian American vice president.
Kamala Harris:
While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.
(Cheering)
Kamala Harris:
Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.
William Brangham:
Harris is the daughter of immigrants from Oakland, California. Her mother was a scientist who emigrated from India to study at U.C. Berkeley. Her father was from Jamaica and became a prominent economist at Stanford.
In elementary school, Harris was bused from her predominantly Black neighborhood to a white one, part of an effort to desegregate local public schools. She lived in California until she was 12, when Harris moved with her mother and sister to Canada. Harris later enrolled at Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, D.C., where she studied political science and economics.
She then returned to the Bay Area for law school. And it was in San Francisco where Harris' political career began. In 2003, she was elected the city's district attorney.
Kamala Harris:
To be a prosecutor is to really be engaged in one of the most — noblest professions that anyone could do and have.
William Brangham:
Her career in law enforcement helped propel her to higher office, but also has earned her a good deal of criticism.
California's police unions were livid when she didn't press for the death penalty for a man who killed a police officer. She also championed providing a path for some nonviolent first-time drug offenders to get education and job training to prevent them from re-offending.
Kamala Harris:
When we're talking about serious and violent crime, lock them up. But when we're talking about nonviolent crime, that is actually the crime that is occupying the bulk of our public resources and beds in our state prison system. And we need to have a meaningful system to reduce the likelihood that that revolving door will continue.
William Brangham:
In 2010, Harris was elected attorney general of California, overseeing the largest state Justice Department in the U.S.
Harris' office took on predatory for-profit colleges and also secured a nearly $20 billion settlement with banks following the 2008 foreclosure crisis.
Kamala Harris:
It was imperative that we not give a blank check of immunity to the banks for their wrongdoing.
William Brangham:
Harris' tenure as attorney general also coincided with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the emergence of criminal justice reform as a major issue.
In 2015, Harris didn't take a position a state law that would have required independent investigations when police killed civilians. Harris' office also tried to prevent nonviolent prisoners from being released after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California's overcrowded prisons violated inmate's constitutional rights.
At the same time, her office launched implicit bias training for law enforcement officers in 2015.
Kamala Harris:
We have developed and implemented a policy on implicit bias and racial profiling.
William Brangham:
In 2016, Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate in a landslide, becoming only the second Black woman to serve as a U.S. senator.
Kamala Harris:
I intend to fight for truth and transparency and trust.
(Cheering)
William Brangham:
As senator, Harris shined in hearings with her pointed prosecutorial questioning of witnesses, including Brett Kavanaugh, after he'd been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kamala Harris:
Can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?
Brett Kavanaugh, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice:
I'm happy to answer a more specific question.
Kamala Harris:
Male versus female?
Brett Kavanaugh:
There are medical procedures.
Kamala Harris:
That the government has the power to make a decision about a man's body?
William Brangham:
In 2019, with a growing national profile, Harris joined the wide field of Democrats who lined up to challenge President Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris:
I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States.
(Cheering)
William Brangham:
But her bid for the White House struggled to gain traction, especially as she faced questions about her record as a prosecutor.
Fmr. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI):
She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.
(Cheering)
(Applause)
Fmr. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard:
She blocked evidence — she blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. And she fought to keep cash bail system in place. That impacts poor people in the worst kind of way.
Kamala Harris:
As the elected attorney general of California, I did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system of a state of 40 million people, which became a national model for the work that needs to be done. And I am proud of that work.
William Brangham:
Harris dropped out of the race before a single ballot was cast.
Kamala Harris:
And I will keep fighting every day for what this campaign has been about, justice for the people.
William Brangham:
Harris eventually endorsed Joe Biden and was then chosen by him to be his running mate.
Kamala Harris:
In this election, we have a chance to change the course of history. We're all in this fight, you, me, and Joe, together.
William Brangham:
In 2020, Biden and Harris won a contentious election.
Kamala Harris:
We did it. We did it, Joe. You're going to be the next president of the United States.
(Laughter)
William Brangham:
And as vice president, Harris' tenure got off to a rocky start. After being tasked with stemming the root causes of migration to the U.S., Harris' first trip abroad as V.P. was to Mexico and Guatemala.
Kamala Harris:
I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border. Do not come. Do not come.
William Brangham:
With increasing numbers of migrants coming to the U.S.-Mexico border, Harris was criticized for not visiting the region.
Question:
You haven't been to the border.
Kamala Harris:
And I haven't been to Europe. I mean, I don't understand the point that you're making.
William Brangham:
Although Harris later visited the border, it fed into the perception that the Biden administration was not doing enough to curb illegal border crossings.
In 2022, Texas' governor, Republican Greg Abbott bused migrants literally to her front door in Washington, D.C.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX):
Kamala Harris was saying there's no problem on the border. So, she said the border was secure. And so I felt the need to be involved in the education process.
William Brangham:
In the summer of 2022, the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturning the right to abortion marked a turning point for Harris.
She emerged as a fierce advocate for the administration on abortion rights and women's rights more broadly.
Kamala Harris:
Do you not trust women to know what isn't their own best interest? You, some legislator in some state capital, the majority of whom are not women, are in a better position to tell her what she should do?
William Brangham:
And with the Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans…
Kamala Harris:
The Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative, and the bill, as amended, is passed.
(Cheering)
William Brangham:
… Harris' tie-breaking vote was key in many of the Biden administration's legislative victories, including the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act, which was America's most ambitious effort yet to tackle climate change.
Harris also took a leading role in efforts to reduce gun violence, overseeing the first ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention. She spoke with Geoff Bennett last September.
Geoff Bennett:
Absent congressional action, how will that effort make a significant change?
Kamala Harris:
Well, congressional action is very important. There's no question about that. But, sadly, a lot of folks there just don't have the courage to do it. The work that we are doing is to make sure that we are implementing all of the executive orders that have already been implemented and passed.
William Brangham:
With President Biden now out of the race, the 59-year-old Kamala Harris will again see her career and record closely examined as she tries to both unify the Democratic Party behind her bid and then turn her sights on defeating the former president.
For the PBS "News Hour," I'm William Brangham.
