After weeks of speculation, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden has selected Sen. Kamala Harris to be his running mate.
Here are 10 things you may not know about the 55-year-old Democrat from California.
- Kamala Devi Harris was born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland California and grew up in Berkeley.
- She is the daughter of immigrants. Her Jamaican father is a professor emeritus at Stanford University and her mother was a cancer researcher from India. The couple was active in the Civil Rights movement before divorcing when Harris and her sister Maya were children.
- Harris was raised in the Baptist Church where she sang in the choir and also attended a Hindu temple with her mother.
- By the time she was in first grade, Harris had already traveled to India, the Caribbean, Africa and England, according to Mentalfloss.com.
- Harris has a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Howard University where she was on the debate team and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She got her law degree from UC Hastings College of Law.
- Before she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2017, Harris served as: San Francisco district attorney from 2004-2011; and California attorney general from 2011-2016.
- In 2017, she was sworn in as the second black woman and first South Asian-American senator in history.
- While running for president, Harris proposed a controversial Medicare for all plan that included the option to keep private insurance. Harris also supports abortion rights and higher pay for teachers and abolishing the death penalty. Where she stands on other issues
- Harris has written three books: The Truths We Hold: An American Journey; Smart on Crime; and the children’s book Superheroes Are Everywhere.
- Harris and attorney Douglas Emhoff married in 2014. They met on a blind date and married at the Santa Barbara courthouse, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Harris is stepmother to his adult children, Cole and Ella, who call her Momala.
Sources: San Francisco Chronicle; Washington Post; Associated Press; Mentalfloss.com